Social media giant Meta announced on Monday that it would ban Russian outlet RT, days after the Biden administration accused the platform of operating as an arm of Moscow’s intelligence services.
“After careful consideration, we have expanded our ongoing crackdown on Russian state media. Rossiya Segodnya, RT and other associated entities are now banned from our apps globally for alleged foreign interference,” a Meta spokesperson said in a statement.
The Biden administration announced the new sanctions on Friday, with a State Department official calling the outlet “a full member of the Russian government’s intelligence services and operations in the Ukraine war.”
US officials subsequently accused RT of running covert information warfare operations around the world on behalf of Russian intelligence services.
James Rubin, coordinator of the State Department’s Global Engagement Center, said RT was “a place where propaganda, disinformation and lies are spread to millions, maybe billions, of people around the world.”
Some of RT’s activities are kept secret, U.S. officials said.
US authorities allege that RT operates an online platform in Africa called “African Stream” but conceals its role, that it secretly operates a Berlin-based English-language site called “Red” in Germany, and that in France it employs Paris-based journalists to run “influence projects” targeted at French-speaking audiences.
The Biden administration is imposing sanctions on the state broadcaster, which oversees RT, TV Novosti and another state-run media company, Rossiya Segodnya, and its head, Dmitry Kiselyov, officials said.
The United States has previously accused Russia of trying to sow discord and division and interfere in U.S. elections, and in 2018 the Department of Justice announced indictments of 12 Russian nationals for cybercrimes aimed at interfering in the 2016 election, including hacking the Democratic National Committee’s computers and stealing emails.
Russia denies conducting intelligence operations to interfere in U.S. elections or the politics of other countries.
YouTube also removed hundreds of channels with ties to Russian government-backed media on Monday, a spokesperson confirmed to NBC News.
“As part of our ongoing efforts to comply with applicable U.S. government sanctions, we have suspended over 230 channels affiliated with AVO TV Novosti and Rossiya Segodnya, all of which were already blocked from viewers,” the spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
The platform began blocking Russian state-run news channels globally, including those affiliated with RT and Sputnik, in 2022. YouTube said the platform has blocked thousands of channels and millions of videos over the years.
Meta also began restricting Russian state-run media two years ago. The ban announced on Monday is due to come into effect in the coming days.
Meta’s apps include Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Threads, and more.
