Meta bans RT, days after U.S. accuses Russian outlet of disinformation

Social media giant Meta on Monday announced that it is banning Russian media outlet RT, days after the Biden administration accused RT of acting as an arm of Moscow’s spy agencies.

“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,” a spokesperson at Meta said in a statement.

The move comes after the Biden administration on Friday announced new sanctions and a State Department official called the media outlet “a fully fledged member of the intelligence apparatus and operation of the Russian government” for the war in Ukraine.

U.S. officials then accused RT of carrying out covert information warfare operations around the world on behalf of Russia’s spy agencies.

James Rubin, coordinator for the State Department’s Global Engagement Center, said that RT is “where propaganda, disinformation and lies are spread to millions, if not billions of people around the world.”

Some of RT’s operations are kept hidden, U.S. officials said.

In Africa, RT allegedly is behind an online platform called “African Stream” but hides its role; in Germany RT secretly runs a Berlin-based English-language site known as “Red”; and in France, RT hired a journalist in Paris to carry out “influence projects” aimed at a French-speaking audience, according to U.S. officials.

The Biden administration is imposing sanctions on a state-funded broadcaster that oversees the RT outlet, TV-Novosti, another state media company, Rossiya Segodnya, and its director Dmitry Kiselyov, officials said.

The U.S. has previously accused Russia of attempting to interfere in U.S. elections by sowing discord and division, and in 2018, the U.S. Justice Department announced indictments against 12 Russian nationals for cyber crimes intended to interfere with the 2016 election — including hacking Democratic National Committee computers and stealing emails.

Russia has previously denied running information operations to interfere in America’s elections or in other country’s politics. 

Meta started limiting Russian state-controlled media two years ago. Enforcement of the ban announced Monday is expected to roll out in the next several days.

Meta’s apps include Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Threads.