Facebook owner Meta bans RT, other Russian state media

Tech giant’s announcement comes days after Washington unveiled sanctions against Moscow-backed outlets.

Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, has announced a ban on RT and other Russian state media, citing the outlets’ alleged involvement in foreign interference operations.

“After careful consideration, we expanded our ongoing enforcement against Russian state media outlets,” a Meta spokesperson said in a statement on Monday.

“Rossiya Segodnya, RT and other related entities are now banned from our apps globally for foreign interference activity.”

Meta’s ban, which will be rolled out on Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Threads, comes days after the administration of United States President Joe Biden announced sanctions against RT and other Moscow-controlled media.

The Biden administration also announced the launch of a diplomatic effort to alert the international community to what US officials have described as RT’s role as a “fully fledged member of the intelligence apparatus.”

“Our most powerful antidote to Russia’s lies is the truth,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters on Friday.

“It’s shining a bright light on what the Kremlin is trying to do under the cover of darkness.”

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) earlier this month indicted two RT employees over an alleged scheme to secretly fund a Tennessee-based right-wing media company in order to sow political divisions.

RT, which had 7.2 million Facebook followers before the announcement of the ban, did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but has previously mocked US actions targeting it.

“We eat DOJ indictments for breakfast. With lots of sour cream, usually,” the Russian state-backed outlet said in a statement earlier this month.

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Al Jazeera and news agencies