Meta announces ban on Russian state media

Meta says it will ban Russian state-owned media companies, including RT, Rossiya and Segodnya, from posting content on its platforms. It has accused the Russian companies of fraudulent actions aimed at exerting influence and trying to avoid detection.

“After careful consideration, we have expanded our ongoing actions against Russian state media: Rossiya Segodnya, RT, and other affiliated entities have now been banned from our apps worldwide for foreign interference activities,” Meta said in a statement.

The group owns Facebook, Facebook Messenger, Threads, Instagram, and Whatsapp. The enforcement is expected to go into effect in the next few days.

Before the ban, RT had 7.2 million followers on Facebook and 1 million on Instagram, according to CNN.

“With these actions, Meta is discrediting itself… This complicates the prospects for normalizing our relations with Meta,” the Kremlin spokesman said.

The move to block Russian state media comes just days after the U.S. government announced sanctions against RT’s parent companies, Rossiya Segodnya and TV-Novosti. U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said Friday that RT is used by the Russian government for cyber intelligence and covert influence operations.

“(Russian companies) are no longer just fire hoses for Russian propaganda and disinformation. They are engaged in covert activities to undermine American elections and democracy, functioning as a de facto arm of the Russian intelligence apparatus,” Blinken said. He identified them as currently interfering in next month’s election in Moldova and helping to procure weapons for Russia’s war in Ukraine.

This comes days after the U.S. Department of Justice announced charges against two RT employees who were accused of funneling about $10 million to Tenet Media, a Tennessee-based company that creates and amplifies pro-Russian content on YouTube, X (formerly Twitter), TikTok and Instagram.

Meta’s new move isn’t the company’s first. The company announced restrictions on RT and Sputnik in 2022 in response to requests from European Union governments. These included advertising bans and demotions of Russian state media. YouTube banned Russian state media in 2022