Meta Imposes Worldwide Ban on Russian State Media Outlets

As per a statement of Meta late Monday, the company has banned Russian state media outlets from its apps around the world due to “foreign interference activity.” The Meta apps on which the Russian state media outlets are banned include Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Threads.

The ban comes after the United States accused RT and employees of the Russian state-run outlet of funnelling $10 million through shell entities to covertly fund influence campaigns on social media channels including TikTok, Instagram, X, and YouTube.

“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.

Meta had previously banned the Federal News Agency in Russia to thwart foreign interference activities by the Russian Internet Research Agency.