This article was last updated on September 17, 2024
Canada: 
Oye! Times readers Get FREE $30 to spend on Amazon, Walmart…
USA: Oye! Times readers Get FREE $30 to spend on Amazon, Walmart…
Russian state media of Facebook, Insta and WhatsApp for ‘secret influence operations’
The social media company Meta bans Russian state media such as TV channel RT and news agency Rossia Segodnja. According to parent company Meta, the media are guilty of clandestine influence operations online. The ban applies to all Meta subsidiaries, such as Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.
Meta had previously taken other measures, such as placing advertisements on propaganda channels and limiting the reach of their articles. However, because attempts were made to circumvent these measures, Meta is implementing a complete ban worldwide. In the coming days, media will disappear from social media.
Russia has not yet responded to the decision, nor has RT. In the past, RT responded scornfully to accusations that the channel was illegally promoting the interests of the Kremlin. RT dismissed measures as a restriction of press freedom.
Facebook and Instagram are banned in Russia. Meta has been classified as an “extremist organization” since the company changed its hate speech policy in 2022 to allow criticism of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. WhatsApp is allowed there and has millions of users.
Disinformation
Meta’s decision comes shortly after accusations from the American justice system that two RT employees paid millions to an American company to influence the American public in the run-up to the elections. They allegedly spent $10 million to sow division among Americans, the indictment said.
Those activities were part of a broader Russian plan to exert influence in the US through social media, the US Attorney’s Office argued. Fake accounts should be used to spread disinformation about, for example, crimes among Ukrainian migrants and “job losses for white Americans.”
Following the allegations, the US tightened financial sanctions against RT. The channel RT had been banned in the US as a “foreign agent” since 2017.
Be the first to comment