Facebook owner bans Russian state media networks

Facebook owner Meta says it is banning several Russian state media networks, alleging they use deceptive tactics to conduct influence operations and avoid detection on its platforms.

“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 news bulletin, RT newsreader Eunan O’Neill said the broadcaster “and Russia as a whole denies the accusations that have been coming en masse against this channel and others in the past number of days”.

The bans are expected to come into effect in the next few days.

The Russian embassy in Washington and the owner of the Sputnik news agency, Rossiya Segodnya, did not immediately respond to BBC requests for comment.

Russian state media outlets have come under increased scrutiny over claims they have tried to influence politics in Western countries.

As well as Facebook, social media giant Meta owns Instagram, WhatsApp and Threads.

In a statement to the BBC, RT said: “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.

“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.”