Meta bans Russian state media outlets for ‘interference’

META late Monday (Sep 16) said it is banning Russian state media outlets from its apps around the world due to “foreign interference activity”.

The ban comes after the United States accused RT and employees of the state run agency of funnelling US$10 million through shell entities to covertly fund influence campaigns on social media channels including TikTok, Instagram, X, and YouTube, according to an unsealed indictment.

“After careful consideration, we expanded our ongoing enforcement against Russian state media outlets,” Meta said in response to an AFP inquiry.

“Rossiya Segodnya, RT and other related entities are now banned from our apps globally for foreign interference activity.”

RT was forced to cease formal operations in Britain, Canada, the European Union and the United States due to sanctions after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, according to the indictment unsealed in New York,

US prosecutors quoted an RT editor-in-chief as saying it created an “entire empire of covert projects” designed to shape public opinion in “Western audiences”.

One of the covert projects involved funding and direction of an online content creation company in Tennessee, according to the indictment.

Russia is the biggest source of covert influence operations disrupted by Meta at its platform since 2017, and such efforts at deceptive online influence ramped up after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to threat reports released routinely by the social media giant.

Meta had previously banned the Federal News Agency in Russia to thwart foreign interference activities by the Russian Internet Research Agency.

The US Department of State in September said it is engaged in diplomatic efforts to inform governments around the world about Russia’s use of RT to conduct covert activities and encourage them to take action to limit “Russia’s ability to interfere in foreign elections and procure weapons for its war against Ukraine.” AFP