Meta announced Monday that it has banned RT and other Russian state media outlets from its platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and WhatsApp, among others, citing ‘foreign interference activity’ in the US presidential election.
“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,” a Meta spokesperson said in a statement.
The news comes just days after the US Justice Department announced charges against two employees for allegedly funneling nearly $10 million to a Tennessee-based shell company to produce controversial and misleading online content aimed at further dividing Americans. It didn’t stop there. The crackdown also included sanctions on 10 individuals and entities and the seizure of 32 internet domains. Attorney General Merrick Garland described the campaign as “hidden Russian government messaging.”
Prior to the ban, RT had over 7.3 million followers on Facebook, 1 million followers on Instagram, and 139 thousand followers on Threads.
The move comes as Meta is placed under heavy scrutiny for its pushback on foreign interference on its platforms, which continues to escalate ahead of the United States presidential election on November 5th.
Meta did not immediately respond to 9to5Mac’s request for comment.
I’ll update as the story develops.
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