Instagram and Facebook owner Meta is banning RT and other Russian state media networks from its platforms over claims they carried out covert operations to influence social media users.
The ban, which was announced on Monday, will globally block the accounts from Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp and Threads users over the coming days.
“After careful consideration, we expanded our ongoing enforcement against Russian state media outlets,” said Meta, which already restricted activity from the accounts.
“Rossiya Segodnya, RT and other related entities are now banned from our apps globally for foreign interference activity.”
The RT news Facebook page is seen to be unavailable following the Meta ban. Pic: Meta/Reuters
Rossiya Segodnya runs news brands including Sputnik and Russian news agency RIA Novosti.
In response, RT told Sky News that Meta was “censoring information flow to the rest of the world”.
“Don’t worry,” said their spokesperson, “where they close a door, and then a window, our ‘partisans’ (or in your parlance, guerrilla fighters) will find the cracks to crawl through”.
“It’s cute how there’s a competition in the West – who can try to spank RT the hardest, in order to make themselves look better,” they added.
The RIA Novosti Instagram page is unavailable. Pic: Meta/Reuters
The Kremlin said Meta was “discrediting itself” by banning the networks from its platforms.
Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “Such selective actions against Russian media are unacceptable.”
He added the move complicated prospects for Moscow normalising relations with the company.
The ban comes 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.
US 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.
“We’re exposing how Russia deploys similar tactics around the world,” Mr Blinken said.
“Russian weaponisation of disinformation to subvert and polarise free and open societies extends to every part of the world.”
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In July, the US Department of Justice shut down nearly 1,000 social media bot accounts it said were created to spread Russian disinformation in the US.
It linked the accounts to RT, a state-owned broadcaster, accusing one of their senior employees of creating the bot farm which was used to “advance the mission of the FSB and the Russian government”.
When Sky News asked the media company for a response to those allegations, RT replied: “Farming is a beloved pastime for millions of Russians.”
Rossiya Segodnya did not immediately respond to a Sky News request for comment in response to Meta’s ban.