Meta bans Russian state media outlets for 'interference'

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.

- Proxies and mercenaries -

Russia is the biggest source of covert influence operations disrupted by Meta at its platform since 2017, and such efforts at deceptive online influence ramped up after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, according to threat reports released routinely by the social media giant.

Meta had previously banned the Federal News Agency in Russia to thwart foreign interference activities by the Russian Internet Research Agency.

RT capabilities were expanded early last year, with the Russian government enhancing it with "cyber operational capabilities and ties to Russian intelligence," the US State Department said in a recent release.

Cyber capabilities were focused primarily on influence and intelligence operations around the world, according to the State Department.

Information gathered by covert RT operations flows to Russia's intelligence services, Russian media outlets, Russian mercenary groups, and other "proxy arms" of the Russian government, the United States maintained.

The State Department said it was engaged in diplomatic efforts to inform governments around the world about Russia's use of RT to conduct covert activities and encourage them to take action to limit "Russia's ability to interfere in foreign elections and procure weapons for its war against Ukraine."