Meta reportedly announced Tuesday that they were banning Russian state media outlets from using their social media platforms due to these outlets engaging in “foreign interference activity.”
Meta said the ban will occur in the next few days and will leave these outlets unable to access Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, the outlet reported.
“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 obtained by the outlet. (RELATED: Biden Admin Revives Russian Election Interference Bogeyman Just In Time For November)
Dmitry Peskov, the Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation, reportedly decried the act and said that “such selective actions against Russian media are unacceptable.”
“Meta with these actions are discrediting themselves,” Peskov said, according to the outlet. “We have an extremely negative attitude towards this. And this, of course, complicates the prospects for normalizing our relations with Meta.”
Meta said it’s banning Russia state media organization from its social media platforms, alleging that the outlets used deceptive tactics to amplify Moscow’s propaganda. The announcement drew a rebuke from the Kremlin on Tuesday. https://t.co/vIagTd2sz1
— ABC News (@ABC) September 17, 2024
“Meta can ban us all it wants, but you can always find us here,” RT tweeted, citing a list of platforms one can still view their programs on.
Meta can ban us all it wants, but you can always find us here:
Rumble: https://t.co/Nuc9nUzlmx
Odysee: https://t.co/gMbz1a2E5x
VK: https://t.co/3AqfCdVc6d pic.twitter.com/l4gr0rOoxS— RT (@RT_com) September 17, 2024
RT claimed in a statement that this ban was part of a broader campaign of censorship against the outlet, citing Meta’s decision to block their outlet “in Europe two years ago,” ABC News reported.
“It’s cute how there’s a competition in the West — who can try to spank RT the hardest, in order to make themselves look better,” RT alleged in a statement, according to ABC News.
