According to Meta, it has banned Russia’s state media organizations from its social media channels because they employed dishonest methods to spread misinformation from Moscow. The Kremlin criticized the statement on Tuesday.
The business, which is in charge of Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram, announced late on Monday that it will implement the restriction gradually over the coming days as part of a larger attempt to thwart Russian influence activities.
Following considerable thought, we strengthened the sanctions we are currently enforcing 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 prepared statement.
Dmitry Peskov, the spokesperson for the Kremlin, retaliated sharply, declaring that Meta is defaming itself with these acts and that such discriminatory measures against Russian media are intolerable.
Regarding this, we have a very bad mindset. During his daily conference call, Peskov told reporters that this, of course, makes it more difficult to normalize our relations with Meta.
Meta’s moves follow days after the US imposed fresh sanctions on RT, charging the news organization affiliated with the Kremlin with playing a major role in Russia’s military apparatus and efforts to weaken its democratic enemies.
Last week, US officials claimed that RT was closely collaborating with the Russian military and organizing fundraising events to purchase body armor, sniper rifles, and other weapons for fighters engaged in combat in Ukraine. Additionally, they claimed that RT websites disseminated propaganda and false material throughout Europe, Africa, South America, and other regions while posing as respectable news sources.
The Biden administration charged two RT employees with secretly giving millions of dollars to a Tennessee-based content creation company so that it could produce English-language social media videos that promoted pro-Kremlin sentiments earlier this month, and it also confiscated websites operated by the Kremlin.
Moscow has denied the accusations.
By dismantling a vast Russian-based disinformation network that attempted to disseminate Kremlin talking points regarding the invasion of Ukraine through hundreds of fictitious social media accounts and dozens of bogus news websites, Meta took action to curtail Moscow’s online influence two years ago.
Not long after sending soldiers into Ukraine in March 2022, Russian authorities disabled Facebook and Instagram and labeled Meta as an extremist organization.
These websites were well-liked by Russians prior to the invasion and the ensuing crackdown on independent media and other kinds of critical expression. Elon Musk’s X, formerly known as Twitter, is also restricted. These days, virtual private networks are the only way to access social media platforms.
Andy Stone, the director of Meta Communications, was found guilty in April of encouraging terrorism by a Russian court and given a six-year prison sentence during a brief trial conducted virtually. Stone was charged because of statements he made in 2022 after Moscow invaded Ukraine on February 24 of that same year.
Based in the US, Stone declared that Meta’s hate speech policy would be temporarily altered to include political communication that would often be prohibited by the organization—such as violent speech that threatens to kill Russian invaders.
Stone said in the same statement that there will be no lifting of the ban on reasonable demands for violence against Russian civilians. Despite this, the Russian government filed a criminal complaint against Stone and other unnamed Meta staff members, characterizing the remarks as unlawful incitements to violence and the murder of Russian nationals.
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