Facebook owner bans Russian state media networks
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has announced that it is banning several Russian state media networks, including Rossiya Segodnya and RT, citing their use of deceptive tactics to influence and evade detection on its platforms.
Meta stated, “Following careful consideration, we have intensified our enforcement actions against Russian state media outlets. Rossiya Segodnya, RT, and other associated entities are now banned from our apps worldwide due to foreign interference activities.”
In response, RT newsreader Eunan O’Neill commented in a news bulletin that the broadcaster and Russia “categorically deny the accusations that have been directed at this channel and others over recent days.”
The bans are anticipated to take effect in the coming days.
The Russian embassy in Washington and Rossiya Segodnya, the owner of Sputnik news agency, have not yet responded to BBC’s request for comment.
Russian state media outlets have come under increased scrutiny over claims they have tried to influence politics in Western countries.
As well as Facebook, social media giant Meta owns Instagram, WhatsApp and Threads.
The move marks an escalation in the world’s biggest social media firm’s stance towards Russian state media companies.
Two years ago, Meta took more limited measures to restrict the spread of Russian state-controlled media, including stopping the outlets from running adverts on its platforms and limiting the reach of their content.
After the start of the war in Ukraine, Meta – like other social media platforms – complied with requests from the EU, UK and Ukraine to block some Russian state media in those regions.
Earlier this month, the US accused state broadcaster RT of paying a Tennessee firm $10m (£7.6m) to “create and distribute content to US audiences with hidden Russian government messaging”.
An indictment said videos – which often promoted right-wing narratives on issues such as immigration, gender and the economy – were secretly “edited, posted, and directed” by two RT employees.
Last week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced new sanctions against RT, accusing it of being a “de facto arm of Russia’s intelligence apparatus”.
The top US diplomat told reporters on Friday that RT was part of a network of Russian-backed media outlets which have sought to covertly “undermine democracy in the United States”.
He added that the Russian government has “embedded within RT, a unit with cyber-operational capabilities and ties to Russian intelligence”.
RT livestreamed Mr Blinken’s remarks on X and declared it the “US’s latest conspiracy theory”.
