Facebook owner Meta announced it was banning several Russian state media networks, alleging they used deceptive tactics to conduct influence operations and evade detection on its platforms.
“After careful consideration, we have expanded our ongoing action against Russian state media. Rossiya Segodnya, RT and other related entities are now banned from our apps worldwide for foreign interference activity,” Meta said.
In a news report, RT news anchor Eunan O’Neill said the channel “and Russia as a whole deny the accusations that have been massively levelled against this channel and others in recent days.”
The bans are expected to come into effect in the coming 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 are under increased scrutiny over allegations they have tried to influence the politics of Western countries.
Besides Facebook, social media giant Meta owns Instagram, WhatsApp and Threads.
The move marks an escalation in the world’s largest social media company’s stance toward Russian state media companies.
Two years ago, Meta took more limited steps to restrict the distribution of Russian state-controlled media, including banning outlets from running ads 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, the UK and Ukraine to block some Russian state media in those regions.
Earlier this month, The US has accused public broadcaster RT of paying $10m (£7.6m) to a Tennessee company to “create and distribute content to the American public with hidden messages from the Russian government”.
According to the indictment, the videos – which often promoted right-wing rhetoric on issues such as immigration, gender and economics – were secretly “edited, published and directed” by two RT employees.
Last week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced new sanctions against RTaccusing it of being a “de facto arm of the Russian intelligence apparatus.”
The top US diplomat told reporters on Friday that RT was part of a network of Russian-backed media outlets seeking to “covertly undermine democracy in the United States.”
He added that the Russian government has “integrated into RT a unit with cyber-operational capabilities and links to Russian intelligence services.”
RT livestreamed Mr Blinken’s remarks on X and declared them “the latest US conspiracy theory”.
