Meta late Monday said it is banning Russian state media outlets from its apps around the world due to "foreign interference activity."
The ban comes after the United States accused RT and employees of the state-run outlet of funneling $10 million through shell entities to covertly fund influence campaigns on social media channels including TikTok, Instagram, X, and YouTube, according to an unsealed indictment.
"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, whose apps include Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Threads.
RT was forced to cease formal operations in Britain, Canada, the European Union and the United States due to sanctions after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, according to the indictment unsealed in New York,
US prosecutors quoted an RT editor-in-chief as saying it created an "entire empire of covert projects" designed to shape public opinion in "Western audiences."
- Secret content backing -
One of the covert projects involved funding and direction of an online content creation company in Tennessee, according to the indictment.
Since launching in late 2023, the US content creation operation supported by Russia has posted nearly 2,000 videos that have logged more than 16 million views on YouTube alone, according to the indictment.
Prosecutors cited a content producer as grousing about being pressed by the company to post a video early this year of a "well known US political commentator visiting a grocery store in Russia," complaining it felt like "overt shilling" but agreeing to put the video out.
The company never disclosed to viewers it was funded by RT, US prosecutors said.
"RT has pursued malign influence campaigns in countries opposed to its policies, including the United States, in an effort to sow domestic divisions and thereby weaken opposition to Government of Russia objectives," prosecutors argued in the indictment.
Bd pratidin English/Lutful Hoque
