Meta Platforms has started demoting content from Russian state media on its platforms, as well as demoting posts with links to those websites on Facebook, the firm’s head of security policy, said in a tweet.
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“Over the past several days, we began demoting content from Facebook pages and Instagram accounts from Russian state-controlled media outlets, and we are making them harder to find across our platforms,” Nathaniel Gleicher tweeted.
The tech giant also intends to label links to Russian state-controlled media websites on Facebook, so “people who do see them will have context before clicking or sharing,” Gleicher said, adding that the company plans to take similar steps on Instagram too.
The California-based company’s update comes amid a series of other restrictions on Russian state media and economic sanctions against the country after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
On Tuesday, Nick Clegg, Meta’s head of global affairs, had said that the firm received requests from a number of Governments and the European Union to take further steps in relation to Russian state-controlled media and will restrict access to RT and Sputnik across the EU.
In a similar move, Google said that it had removed Russian state-controlled media outlets like RT from its news-related features, including the Google News search tool.
“In this extraordinary crisis we are taking extraordinary measures to stop the spread of misinformation and disrupt disinformation campaigns online,” Kent Walker, President, Global Affairs at Google, said in a blog post.
Walker further added that the company is blocking YouTube channels connected to RT and Sputnik across Europe. “This builds on our indefinite pause of monetisation of Russian state-funded media across our platforms,” he noted.
Last week, the search giant had restricted RT and other channels from monetising their content or advertising on its platforms, a day after Meta confirmed that it banned Russian state media from running ads or monetising on its platform anywhere in the world.
Published - March 02, 2022 06:25 pm IST
