This week was a game changer for social media users from outside Europe. It is the case however, that while Instagram, Facebook meta and Threads continue to look the same for the European audience, paysania was able to comprehend a rather prominent deshift in social media. All posts of Russian Government-funded news agencies, RT, Rossiya Segodnia included, have lost hyperlinks directing to themselves. The Department of Management of these projects, namely Apple, has legally prohibited the abovementioned Russian propaganda institutions within the entire scope of the globe.
Such restriction on the activities of the media was done a couple of times before, starting from ordinary restrictions in the EU and UK after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and following with the ban on all Russian activities inside the Meta platform. The newly implemented measure, global ban imposed on October 22, specifically aims at the Russian regimes propaganda mechanisms such as RT, Rossiya Segodnya and other sister companies. “We have recently expanded our continuing enforcement against Russian state media, and we did so with careful thought,” said Meta on its Twitter page on September 16 informing the press.
Meta Enforces Ban
The stance of the corporation, in this case, fits into the announced theory of meta prohibition to “the foreign interference” of the Facebook Community Standard. Time was not provided as to whether the place and the date of the national media blackout had any relevance to the forthcoming US presidential election or any recent funding measures taken against the Russian media.
Some analysts, however, think timing has more weight. Andre Wolf, of the Austrian internet watchdog Mimikama, says that, “We are a few weeks from the U.S. election – that is the crucial point.” As he put it, the reason for the ban is to avert any Russian election meddling.
This month in September, the U.S. sought more restrictions against Russian media networks after RT and Moldova’s so-called intelligence were accused of meddling with the upcoming elections in Moldova. For quite a while now, American authorities have had an issue with the Soviet Union’s activity in the elections , especially in the United States.
According to Wolf, however, Meta tries to differentiate itself in this regard from other tech giants by claiming that it is “ the good ones among the bad ones.” While there may have been an outcry against huge technology companies, Meta has been among the pioneer companies in implementing words, such as fake news alert and hate speech prohibition. Still, Wolf cautions that Russian propaganda is becoming less pipeline and more influence marketing as – influencers and fake news sites relay pro-Russia messaging disguised as news.
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