Facebook owner Meta said it was banning several Russian state-run media networks, claiming they were using deceptive tactics to gain influence on the platform and evade detection.
“After careful consideration, we have expanded our ongoing enforcement against Russian state-run media outlets. Rossiya Segodnya, RT, and other related entities are now banned from our apps globally for foreign interference activities,” Meta said.
RT News reporter Younan O’Neill reported in a news bulletin that the network and “Russia as a whole deny the collective accusations that have been leveled against this channel and others in the past few days.”
The ban is expected to take effect within a few days.
The Russian Embassy in Washington and Sputnik news agency head Rossiya Segodnya did not immediately respond to the BBC’s request for comment.
The scrutiny has intensified amid allegations that Russian state-run media outlets have sought to influence politics in Western countries.
Social media giant Meta owns not only Facebook, but also Instagram, WhatsApp, and Threads.
The move marks a further hardening of the world’s largest social media company’s stance against Russia’s state-run media company.
Two years ago, Meta took more restrictive measures to curb the spread of Russian state-run media, including stopping them from running ads on its platforms and limiting the reach of their content.
Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Meta, like other social media platforms, has blocked some Russian state media in the region at the request of the EU, UK and Ukraine.
Earlier this month, The US has accused state broadcaster RT of paying $10m (£7.6m) to a Tennessee company to “produce and distribute content containing hidden messages from the Russian government to American audiences”..
The indictment says the videos promoting right-wing narratives on issues including immigration, gender and the economy were secretly “edited, posted and directed” by two RT employees.
last week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken Announces New Sanctions on RTHe denounced it as a de facto branch of the Russian intelligence service.
A senior U.S. diplomat told reporters on Friday that RT is part of a network of Russian-backed media outlets that covertly seek to “undermine democracy in the United States.”
He added that the Russian government “has placed a unit within RT with cyber-operations capabilities and links to Russian intelligence services.”
RT live-streamed Secretary Blinken’s remarks on X and declared it “America’s newest conspiracy theory.”
