Late on Monday, Meta said that it was removing Russian state media from all of its global apps because of “foreign interference activity.”
The prohibition follows allegations made by the US in an unsealed indictment against RT and state-run outlet employees that they secretly funded influence efforts on TikTok, Instagram, X, YouTube, and other social media platforms by channeling $10 million through shell companies.
“After careful consideration, we expanded our ongoing enforcement against Russian state media outlets,” Meta said in response to an AFP inquiry.
“Rossiya Segodnya, RT and other related entities are now banned from our apps globally for foreign interference activity,” said Meta, whose apps include Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Threads.
RT was forced to cease formal operations in Britain, Canada, the European Union and the United States due to sanctions after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, according to the indictment unsealed in New York,
US prosecutors quoted an RT editor-in-chief as saying it created an “entire empire of covert projects” designed to shape public opinion in “Western audiences.”
