Meta has announced to ban the Russian state media from its platforms for allegedly using deceptive tactics.
According to BBC, Meta's spokesperson on Monday, September 16, issued a statement accusing the Russian media, RT, and other outlets, citing its involvement in international interference operations.
Meta stated, “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.”
The ban came days after US President Joe Biden accused Russian media and announced sanctions against multiple media outlets.
Meanwhile, the Russian state media criticised Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Threads’ parent company's decision and called it a tactic that the Western world has used to ‘look better.’
RT told BBC, “It is cute how there’s a competition in the West, who can try to spank RT the hardest in order to make themselves look better.”
It further added, “Don’t worry, where they close a door and then a window, our ‘partisans’ (or in your parlance, guerrilla fighters) will find the cracks to crawl through, as by your own admission we are apt at doing."
The ban is believed to come into effect in the coming days.
To note, this is not the first time Meta has restricted the Russian state media, as two years ago the world's biggest social media firm limited the reach of RT content and halted them from putting advertisements on its platforms.
