Kremlin responds to Meta’s Russian media ban
US tech giant Meta has “discredited itself” by banning Russian media outlets, including RT, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said. The move further complicates the prospects for “the normalization of relations” with the Facebook and Instagram owner, Peskov added.
The California-based corporation said in a written statement on Monday that it was deplatforming Rossiya Segodnya, RT, and other related entities from its apps due to “foreign interference activity.” The measures will be implemented globally over the next several days.
Commenting on the move, Kremlin spokesman Peskov said Meta “discredits itself with actions of this kind. Such selective actions against Russian media are unacceptable. We have an extremely negative attitude towards this.”
Last week, the US State Department announced fresh sanctions on Russian state-funded media outlets, accusing them of close ties with the Russian military. Secretary of State Antony Blinken claimed that RT was “functioning as a de facto arm of [Russian] intelligence.”
RT has mocked the sanctions and accused Washington of trying to prevent it from operating as a journalistic organization.
Commenting on the State Department’s move, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said it amounts to a declaration of war on free speech, also describing the sanctions as “repressions unprecedented in scale.”
Meta was branded an extremist organization in Russia shortly after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022. Its social media apps were blocked in the country for allowing hate speech against Russian nationals and for distributing false content about Moscow’s military. WhatsApp was the only app that avoided restrictions due to its classification as solely a communication tool.
