Meta announced late Monday that it is banning Russian state media outlets from its platforms worldwide due to “foreign interference activity.”
The move follows U.S. allegations that RT and its employees used $10 million through shell companies to secretly fund influence campaigns across social media, including TikTok, Instagram, X, and YouTube, according to an unsealed indictment.
Meta stated, “After careful consideration, we have expanded our enforcement against Russian state media outlets.” This ban includes RT, Rossiya Segodnya, and related entities from Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Threads.
RT has already been forced to halt operations in Britain, Canada, the European Union, and the U.S. due to sanctions imposed after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, as detailed in the indictment.
U.S. prosecutors revealed that RT created an “empire of covert projects” aimed at influencing Western public opinion. One such project involved a content creation company in Tennessee, which, since late 2023, has posted nearly 2,000 videos amassing over 16 million views on YouTube alone.
Prosecutors reported that a content producer complained about being pressured to post a video earlier this year featuring a “well-known U.S. political commentator visiting a grocery store in Russia.” The producer felt the video was “overt shilling” but still agreed to publish it. The company, according to U.S. prosecutors, did not disclose that RT funded the content.
The indictment alleges that RT has conducted malign influence campaigns in countries opposing its policies, including the U.S., with the aim of creating domestic divisions to weaken resistance to Russian government objectives.
Since 2017, Russia has been the primary source of covert influence operations that Meta has disrupted on its platform. These deceptive online tactics increased significantly following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as detailed in Meta’s threat reports.
Previously, Meta banned the Federal News Agency in Russia to combat foreign interference linked to the Russian Internet Research Agency.
Early last year, RT’s capabilities were significantly expanded as the Russian government enhanced its operations with “cyber operational capabilities and connections to Russian intelligence,” according to a recent U.S. State Department release.
These cyber capabilities were primarily focused on global influence and intelligence operations. Information gathered through RT’s covert activities is reportedly funneled to Russia’s intelligence services, media outlets, mercenary groups, and other Russian government proxies.
The State Department stated it is actively working to inform governments worldwide about Russia’s use of RT for covert operations and is urging them to take measures to limit “Russia’s ability to interfere in foreign elections and acquire weapons for its war against Ukraine.”
