The parent company of Facebook and Instagram has banned Russia’s state-backed news outlets from their social media platforms, about a week after the U.S. State Department imposed fresh sanctions on the broadcaster.
In a statement this week, a spokesperson for Meta Platforms said broadcasters linked to the Russian government would no longer be allowed to participate on Facebook, Instagram and other related platforms.
The ban extends to RIA Novosti, Rossiya Segodnya and the international broadcast outlet RT.
The move comes after the U.S. State Department accused RIA Novosti and RT of having connections to Russia’s intelligence agencies. Among other things, the broadcasters are accused of spreading propaganda that is favorable to Russia’s military conflict in Ukraine, and helping the military procure weapons and other equipment for the war there.
RT was also accused of operating several regional news websites that were used to spread propaganda and misinformation. None of the websites specifically mentioned their ties to the broadcaster, State Department officials complained.
While new sanctions imposed on the Russian government and RT did not prevent the outlets from news-gathering in the United States, Meta says it was concerned that the broadcaster was engaged in “foreign interference activity.”
Meta said its decision to ban Rossiya Segodnya and RT from its apps globally was made “after careful consideration,” but didn’t elaborate further.
The ban also extends to other news outlets linked to the Russian government, including Sputnik News, whose profile was pulled from Facebook shortly after the announcement was made. Sputnik had more than 1.2 million followers on Facebook, according to an archived profile reviewed by The Desk.
RT and Sputnik have since removed buttons to their former Facebook and Instagram pages on their websites. The website of RT now encourages readers to follow the outlet on Telegram, Rumble, VKontakt and X (formerly Twitter).
Meta first took action against RT two years ago, when regulators in Europe effectively forced Facebook and Instagram to block the social profiles of the broadcaster from users on the continent.
“Now they’re censoring information flow to the rest of the world,” a spokesperson for RT said in a statement on Tuesday.
“Don’t worry, where they close a door, and then a window, our ‘partisans’…will find the cracks to crawl through, as by your own admission we are apt at doing,” the spokesperson continued.
Earlier this week, RT complained that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had “conducted a raid involving 20 agents” on the U.S. home of a RT employee, “subjecting her to questioning about RT’s leadership and operations.” The employee was not named.
