Meta Takes Action Against Russian Media Outlets
On Monday, Meta announced its decision to prohibit Russian media outlets, including the state-owned RT, from posting content on its platforms. This move comes as these outlets have been implicated in covert influence campaigns aimed at manipulating online discourse across various social media sites.
Meta, which operates popular platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, stated that this ban would be implemented in the coming days. This action marks an escalation in the ongoing efforts to combat disinformation propagated by Russian state media, which U.S. intelligence officials have identified as a significant threat to public discourse globally.
In a formal statement, Meta declared, “After careful consideration, we expanded our ongoing enforcement against Russian state media outlets: Rossiya Segodnya, RT, and other related entities are now banned from our apps globally due to foreign interference activity.”
Recently, U.S. authorities have intensified their scrutiny of RT, particularly regarding its attempts to influence the upcoming presidential election in November. Last Friday, a coalition of the United States, Canada, and Britain accused RT of functioning as an extension of Russia’s intelligence agencies. They announced new sanctions aimed at severing international financial support for disinformation operations worldwide.
This crackdown followed the federal indictment of two RT employees who were accused of channeling at least $9.7 million to finance American podcasters on Tenet Media, a video-streaming platform based in Tennessee. The goal was to promote Kremlin propaganda while undermining the integrity of the American democratic political process.
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken remarked on this initiative, stating, “We’re exposing how Russia deploys similar tactics around the world.” He emphasized that the weaponization of disinformation by Russia aims to subvert and polarize free and open societies, a strategy that extends far beyond U.S. borders.
