Facebook owner bans Russian state media networks

Facebook owner Meta says it is banning several Russian state media networks, alleging they use deceptive tactics to conduct influence operations and avoid detection on its platforms.

"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," Meta said.

In a news bulletin, RT newsreader Eunan O'Neill said the broadcaster "and Russia as a whole denies the accusations that have been coming en masse against this channel and others in the past number of days".

The bans are expected to come into effect in the next few days.

The Russian embassy in Washington and the owner of the Sputnik news agency, Rossiya Segodnya, did not immediately respond to BBC requests for comment.

Russian state media outlets have come under increased scrutiny over claims they have tried to influence politics in Western countries.

As well as Facebook, social media giant Meta owns Instagram, WhatsApp and Threads.

In a statement to the BBC, RT said: "It’s cute how there’s a competition in the West — who can try to spank RT the hardest, in order to make themselves look better.

"Don’t worry, where they close a door, and then a window, our ‘partisans’ (or in your parlance, guerrilla fighters) will find the cracks to crawl through — as by your own admission we are apt at doing."

Meta's move marks an escalation in the world's biggest social media firm's stance towards Russian state media companies.

Two years ago, Meta took more limited measures to restrict the spread of Russian state-controlled media, including stopping the outlets from running adverts on its platforms and limiting the reach of their content.

After the start of the war in Ukraine, Meta - like other social media platforms - complied with requests from the EU, UK and Ukraine to block some Russian state media in those regions.

Earlier this month, the US accused state broadcaster RT of paying a Tennessee firm $10m (£7.6m) to "create and distribute content to US audiences with hidden Russian government messaging".

An indictment said videos - which often promoted right-wing narratives on issues such as immigration, gender and the economy - were secretly "edited, posted, and directed" by two RT employees.

Last week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced new sanctions against RT, accusing it of being a "de facto arm of Russia's intelligence apparatus".

The top US diplomat told reporters on Friday that RT was part of a network of Russian-backed media outlets which have sought to covertly "undermine democracy in the United States".

He added that the Russian government has "embedded within RT, a unit with cyber-operational capabilities and ties to Russian intelligence".

RT livestreamed Mr Blinken's remarks on X and declared it the "US's latest conspiracy theory".