Major social media companies, including YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, and Twitter, have moved to ban Russian state media outlets RT and Sputnik in Europe due to Russia‘s invasion of Ukraine.
The two major Russian news organizations are funded by the government and considered mouthpieces of President Vladimir Putin‘s regime, which has been accused of spreading disinformation to justify its war in Ukraine.
Twitter announced it was restricting Russian state media in Europe on Wednesday after the European Union announced sanctions on RT and Sputnik.
“The European Union (EU) sanctions will legally require us to withhold certain content in EU member states, and we intend to comply,” Twitter spokeswoman Katie Rosborough said in a statement.
“Our global approach outside of the EU will continue to focus on de-amplifying this type of state-affiliated media content across our service and providing important context through our labels,” Rosborough added.
Late last week, under pressure from their users and government officials, Facebook, Google, YouTube, and Twitter all announced efforts to block Russian state media from running ads and monetizing content on their platforms.
Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s vice prime minister and its minister of digital transformation, said Saturday that he had asked the CEOs of Google, YouTube, Apple, and Netflix to block or limit their platforms in Russia in an effort to anger young Russians and put pressure on Putin to end the war.
“I asked YouTube to block the Russian propaganda media, which call us Nazis and drug addicts, lie and promote war. Asked Meta to block Facebook and Instagram. I asked Netflix to block the service in Russia,” Fedorov said in a statement on Facebook.
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The social media giants are aligned in trying to reduce the spread of Russian disinformation about what is happening in Ukraine. Some of the platforms have even restricted access to Russian government accounts altogether.
Two anti-Ukraine disinformation operations that were taken down by Facebook over the weekend were tied to Ukraine Today, a Russian propaganda news outfit created to make Ukraine look like a failed state by using fake profiles on Facebook. Russian state media last week also falsely reported a Ukrainian civilian genocide as a way to justify the Russian invasion.
Russia, on the other hand, has partially restricted local access to some of the social media giants, such as Facebook and Twitter, as protesters have used the platforms to organize and voice opposition to the war.
Russia‘s tech and communications regulator, Roskomnadzor, said last week that Facebook was violating Russian citizens’ rights.
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Putin’s government has a long history of trying to pressure tech companies to censor and filter anti-government content posted within the country, and the government has even incorporated its own filters that slow download times significantly.
