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Facebook parent company Meta announced on September 16 that it is implementing a global ban on Russian state media outlets.
Notable outlets that have been banned include RT and Rossiya Segodnya, due to their involvement in foreign interference activities, Reuters reports.
The ban is expected to take effect in the coming days and follows accusations from U.S. authorities that these outlets engaged in covert influence operations aimed at swaying public opinion in the U.S., particularly as the country approaches its presidential elections in November.
The ban comes amid heightened scrutiny of Russian media’s role in influencing previous U.S. elections. According to CNN, recent investigations have revealed that RT and its affiliates have been linked to various disinformation campaigns designed to create divisions within American society.
The investigation highlighted that RT pushed approximately $10 million through shell companies to fund these campaigns, which included promoting content that aligned with Russian interests while disguising their origins from American audiences.
Ban Not a Surprise
This move by Meta is not unexpected, especially given the concerns over foreign interference in previous U.S. elections.
After the 2016 election, Time reported how Russian intelligence agencies hacked into the email accounts of Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC), releasing damaging information to the public. They also targeted voter registration systems in at least 21 states in an attempt to access sensitive data from them.
Following these incidents, Meta has faced increasing pressure to curb the spread of misinformation on its platforms, particularly from state-sponsored entities like RT, which have been described as extensions of Russian intelligence services.
The timing of this ban coincides with revelations that conservative influencers were allegedly compensated to disseminate Russian talking points, further complicating the landscape of information integrity leading up to the elections.
This is not the first time Meta is rolling out bans on Russian media outlets. In 2022, after Russia invaded Ukraine, Meta announced similar measures against Kremlin-sponsored media outlets to curtail disinformation on its platforms.
As Meta rolls out this ban across its platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and Threads, we are likely to see other social media companies like X and TikTok follow suit.
