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“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,” Meta said in a written statement on Monday, alleging that the outlets used “deceptive” tactics to carry out influence operations.
The company, whose apps include Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Threads, said it would roll out the ban over the coming days.
Russian state media outlets have previously been a target of restrictions by Meta, including being blocked from running ads and having the reach of their post reduced, but the sharp escalation in the company’s actions came after the US filed money-laundering charges against two employees of RT earlier this month.
The two RT employees are accused of hiring a US company to produce online content to influence the 2024 US presidential election.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday announced new sanctions against RT, alleging that it was “functioning like a de facto arm of Russia’s intelligence apparatus.”
He told reporters that RT has sought to covertly "undermine democracy in the United States."
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Saturday pointed out that Washington has once again failed to provide concrete evidence to back its claims, which is why the case has not been brought to court.
She emphasized that such allegations are evidence that Washington is desperate to retain its control over global public opinion and uphold its illusion of infallibility.
“They now spin a new spiral of hatred against Russia, alleging interference in their affairs, just to spur this dead horse dubbed ‘American democracy,’ which is essentially holding the entire American society hostage,” Zakharova said.
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