Meta Bans Russian State Media Networks, Including Russia Today

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has announced a global ban on several Russian state media networks, citing their use of deceptive tactics to carry out influence operations and avoid detection on its platforms.

“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 statement.

The bans will be implemented in the coming days. However, Russian state media organizations, including the Russian embassy in Washington, broadcaster RT (formerly Russia Today), and Rossiya Segodnya, which owns Sputnik news agency, have yet to respond to requests for comment from the BBC.

Russian state media has faced growing scrutiny over allegations of attempts to influence political landscapes in Western countries

Previously, Meta had taken more modest steps to restrict the influence of Russian media, such as halting their ability to run ads and reducing the reach of their content. Following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, Meta—along with other social media platforms—complied with requests from the EU, UK, and Ukraine to block certain Russian state media within those regions.

Earlier this month, the US accused RT of paying $10 million to a Tennessee firm to “create and distribute content to US audiences with hidden Russian government messaging.” The indictment stated that these videos, which often promoted right-wing narratives on topics like immigration, gender, and the economy, were secretly “edited, posted, and directed” by two RT employees.

Last week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced additional sanctions against RT, accusing it of being a “de facto arm of Russia’s intelligence apparatus.”

According to Blinken, RT is part of a broader network of Russian-backed media outlets aiming to covertly “undermine democracy in the United States” and added that RT has a unit embedded within it with “cyber operational capabilities and ties to Russian intelligence.”

On September 14, the US Department of State announced its plans to release declassified intelligence showing that RT is fully integrated into Russian intelligence operations worldwide.