TikTok bans RT’s Arabic and Spanish accounts
The video-sharing platform TikTok has deleted three Arabic-language accounts of RT, without explanation. The measure comes as the Israel-Hezbollah conflict has spurred fears of a regional escalation.
RT Arabic, RT Online and RT Newsroom accounts vanished on Tuesday evening. The Spanish-language Actualidad RT account has also been blocked without explanation.
They had survived last Saturday’s purge of accounts belonging to RT International, Sputnik Afrique, Sputnik Africa, Sputnik International, Sputnik Brasil, Sputnik Mundo, Sputnik Indonesia and Sputnik Serbia. TikTok has not yet commented on the latest development.
The crackdown came after Washington sanctioned RT and several other Russian outlets, accusing them of “functioning as a de facto arm of [Russian] intelligence” and accused them of working to covertly “undermine democracy” in the US and elsewhere.
Russia has denounced the US sanctions as “blatant aggression” and the US accusations as “monstrous and baseless.”
TikTok is owned by Chinese company ByteDance, which has come under intense pressure from US authorities in recent months. Under a law enacted in April, the social network could be banned if ByteDance does not sell it to a US owner within a year.
