Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has announced a global ban on several Russian state-controlled media outlets, citing their involvement in deceptive tactics aimed at carrying out influence operations and evading detection on its platforms.
The banned entities include Rossiya Segodnya, RT (formerly Russia Today), and other related networks, according to a statement from Meta.
The tech giant, which also owns Instagram, WhatsApp, and Threads, said the bans will take effect in the coming days as part of its broader crackdown on foreign interference.
“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 the statement.
Neither the Russian embassy in Washington, broadcaster RT, nor Rossiya Segodnya, which owns Sputnik news agency, immediately responded to requests for comment.
This move marks an escalation in Meta’s actions against Russian media outlets, which have come under increasing scrutiny for their alleged attempts to influence political discourse in Western countries.
Two years ago, Meta limited Russian state media’s ability to run ads and curbed the reach of their content. Following the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war, Meta, along with other social media platforms, blocked certain Russian media outlets in response to requests from the EU, UK, and Ukraine.
Recently, US authorities accused RT of paying a Tennessee firm $10 million to distribute content with concealed Russian government messaging.
According to an indictment, these videos pushed right-wing narratives on immigration, gender, and the economy, while being secretly edited and posted by RT employees.
In addition, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced new sanctions against RT last week, accusing it of functioning as “a de facto arm of Russia’s intelligence apparatus.”
Blinken also alleged that RT was part of a broader network of Russian-backed media outlets seeking to “undermine democracy in the United States.”
As the international community continues to monitor Russia’s media activities, Meta’s actions signal a tougher stance on influence operations tied to Russian state interests, particularly in the context of global security concerns surrounding disinformation campaigns.
