US-based Meta Group, the owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, has announced that it will ban Russian state media access to its platforms worldwide to avoid any "foreign interference activities".
The ban comes after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday condemned the destabilizing activities of Russian media outlet Russia Today (RT), which he called a "branch" of Russian intelligence.
After careful consideration, we have broadened our action against the Russian state media
- said Meta in response to the inquiry of the French news agency AFP.
The Russian media company Rossiya Sevodnya, RT and other related organizations are now banned from our applications worldwide for their foreign interference activities
the American company announced.
About ten days ago, US authorities took a number of measures, including criminal prosecutions and sanctions, primarily targeting Russian media, in response to attempts to interfere in the US election, which were blamed on Russia. At that time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs ordered a visa restriction against the RT media group, Rosszija Szevodnya, as well as other subsidiaries of the company.
In a message published on Telegram on Friday, the spokeswoman of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Marija Zakharova, reacted as follows:
I think a new profession should be created in the United States: a specialist in sanctions against Russia.
The Russian public service media, RT, which was launched in 2005, is considered by the West to be a propaganda organ close to the Kremlin. Its website and television channels are broadcast in several languages, including English, Spanish, French, German and Arabic.
MTI
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