Facebook owner Meta said on Monday it was banning RT, Rossiya Segodnya and other Russian state media networks from its platforms, claiming the outlets had used deceptive tactics to carry out covert influence operations online.
The ban marks a sharp escalation in actions by the world’s biggest social media company against Russian state media, after it spent years taking more limited steps such as blocking the outlets from running ads and reducing the reach of their posts.
“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 for foreign interference activity,” the social media company said in a written statement.
Enforcement of the ban would roll out over the coming days, it said. In addition to Facebook, Meta’s apps include Instagram, WhatsApp and Threads.
Prior to Monday’s ban, RT had 7.2 million followers on Facebook and 1 million followers on Instagram.
The Russian embassy did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The White House declined to comment.
Meta’s move came after the United States filed money-laundering charges earlier this month against two RT employees for what officials said was a scheme to hire an American company to produce online content to influence the 2024 election.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday that countries should treat the activities of Russian state broadcaster RT as they do covert intelligence operations.
RT has mocked the U.S. actions and accused the United States of trying to prevent the broadcaster from operating as a journalistic organization.
In briefing materials shared with Reuters, Meta said it had seen Russian state-controlled media try to evade detection in their online activities in the past and expected them to continue trying to engage in deceptive practices going forward.
The move comes days after the US Justice Department announced charges against two RT employees for funneling nearly $10 million into a US company, identified by CNN as Tenet Media, to create and amplify content that aligned with Russian interests. The covert influence campaign was aimed at the American public ahead of the 2024 US presidential election, US officials said.
Tenet Media boasts a slate of high-profile right-wing, pro-Trump commentators including Tim Pool, Dave Rubin, Benny Johnson and several others. All of them have released statements saying they were victims of the alleged Russian scheme.
After the Justice Department announcement, RT responded with mocking statements that did not address the specifics of the US allegations.
The Justice Department indictment was just one piece of the recent US government crackdown on RT and other Russian state mouthpieces. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday accused RT’s leaders of running an online crowdfunding effort to supply military equipment to Russian soldiers in Ukraine.
Meta’s ban on RT comes after years of a cat-and-mouse game between the American social media giant and Russian state actors. After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Meta blocked Russian state-run media from running ads on its platform.
Executives from Meta, Microsoft and Alphabet, which owns Google, are expected to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday on their platforms’ work to combat foreign threats to US elections.
@Reuters with additional reports from CNN