The ban, which has been heavily criticised by the Kremlin, marks a sharp escalation of measures by the world’s largest social media company against Russian state media, after years of more limited measures such as blocking outlets from running ads and reducing the reach of their posts.
“After careful consideration, we have expanded our enforcement against Russian state media outlets. Rossiya Segodnya, RT and other related entities are now banned from our apps globally for foreign interference activities,” the social media company said in a written statement.
The ban will take effect in the coming days, it said. In addition to Facebook, Meta’s apps include Instagram, WhatsApp and Threads.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday: “With these actions, Meta discredits itself. Such targeted actions against Russian media are unacceptable…”
“This complicates the prospects of normalizing our relations with Meta.”
In 2022, Moscow branded Meta an “extremist” organization and blocked Instagram and Facebook, objecting to changes to Meta’s hate speech policy designed to allow users to express anger over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Russia has also criticized Meta’s previous efforts to limit the reach of Russian media and has fined the company several times for failing to remove content in Russia that it deems illegal.
Pre-existing bans on Instagram and Facebook may limit Russia’s ability to respond to Meta’s state media blockade, but WhatsApp, which Russia has so far stopped short of banning, is used by millions of people.
Telegram Messengerwhose Russian founder, Pavel Durov, was placed under formal investigation in France last month, is widely used in Russia.
VK Video, run by state-owned tech company VK, offers an alternative to YouTube, which has come under pressure in Russia for its own efforts to block Russian state media.
The White House declined to comment on Meta’s decision, which came after the United States filed money laundering charges against two RT employees over what officials said was a scheme to hire a U.S. company to produce online content to influence the 2024 election.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday that countries should treat the activities of Russian state broadcaster RT as if they were covert intelligence operations.
RT has mocked the US actions and accused the US of trying to prevent the broadcaster from operating as a news organisation.
In briefing materials shared with Reuters, Meta said it had seen Russian state-controlled media outlets try to evade detection in their online activities in the past and expected them to continue trying to engage in deceptive practices in the future.
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