Kremlin criticises Meta for banning Russian media outlets

The Kremlin on Tuesday said Facebook owner Meta was discrediting itself by banning some Russian state media networks from its platforms and that Meta's move complicated prospects for Moscow normalising relations with the company.

Meta on Monday said it was banning RT and Rossiya Segodnya among other Russian state media, claiming the outlets had used deceptive tactics to carry out covert influence operations online. The ban includes the suspension of the outlets across Meta’s family of apps, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Threads.

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 written statement.

The ban, however, is a departure from the stand that Meta took almost two years back. The Mark Zuckerberg-led company, after being hit by partial restrictions in Russia in 2022, had prohibited Russian state media from running ads or monetising its platform in countries across the globe. At the time, Meta's VP of Global Affairs, Nick Clegg, had said that the company would continue to apply labels to posts by various Russian state media accounts.

"We are monitoring the situation in Ukraine and will keep sharing steps we're taking to protect people on our platform," Clegg had said the time.

Meta's ban also follows warnings about the Russian disinformation campaign being run by Russian state media networks ahead of the upcoming US presidential elections by the US government. Media reports earlier this month said that the US government had alleged that the Russian state actors were using websites and social media accounts to further their interests in the country.

"United States is designating three entities and two individuals for their connection to Russia’s destabilising actions abroad. According to new information, much of which originates from employees of Russian state-funded RT (formerly “Russia Today”), we now know that RT moved beyond being simply a media outlet and has been an entity with cyber capabilities," the US Department of State said in a written statement.

Written with inputs from Reuters