‘Meta’ announces ban on Russian media outlets including ‘RT’

New Delhi| Social media giant ‘Meta’ announced that it has banned Russian state media broadcaster ‘RT’ and other Kremlin-controlled networks over alleged “foreign interference activity”. Facebook’s parent company Meta has alleged that some Russian media organizations tried to influence people by deception and also tried to avoid being caught.

In a statement on Monday, a Meta spokesperson said, “After careful consideration, we have stepped up our action against Russian state media institutions”. Rossiya Segodnya, RT and other related institutions are now banned globally from our apps for foreign interference activity. The ban will be implemented on Meta’s platforms including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Threads in the coming days. The social media giant has been reducing the influence of Russian state-controlled media on its various platforms since 2022.

Prior to the ban, RT had 7.2 million Facebook followers and 1 million Instagram followers. The action is in response to recent US allegations that Russian media, particularly RT, is participating in covert activities to influence people around the world. Earlier this month, two RT employees were charged by US authorities with money laundering. He is alleged to have planned to incorporate an American company to make material with the intention of influencing the 2024 U.S. presidential election.

On Friday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on several countries to treat Russian state broadcaster RT with similar caution. James Rubin, coordinator of the State Department’s Global Engagement Center, echoed these concerns, labeling RT as a channel where “propaganda, disinformation and lies are spread to millions, if not billions, around the world”. RT has ridiculed the US’s actions and accused it of trying to prevent the broadcaster from operating as a journalism organization.