US-based Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, announced on Monday that it was banning Russian state media from accessing its platforms worldwide, to prevent any “foreign interference activity”.
The ban comes as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday denounced the destabilizing activities of Russian media outlet RT, which he said had been transformed into a “branch” of Russian intelligence around the world.
“After careful consideration, we have expanded our action against Russian state media,” Meta said in response to an AFP query.
“Rossia Segodnia, RT and other related entities are now banned from our apps worldwide due to their foreign interference activities,” the American company said.
About ten days ago, the American authorities unveiled a battery of measures targeting the Russian media in particular, including criminal prosecutions and sanctions, in response to attempts to interfere in the elections in the United States, which they attribute to Russia.
The State Department then imposed visa restrictions on the media group that RT owns, Rossia Segodnia, as well as other subsidiaries of the company.
In a message on Telegram, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova had joked about the latest American announcements on Friday, saying: “I think there should be a new profession in the United States: a specialist in sanctions against Russia.”
Russia’s state-run RT, launched in 2005, is seen by Westerners as a pure propaganda outlet for the Kremlin.
Its website and television channels broadcast in several languages, including English, Spanish, French, German and Arabic.