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Facebook’s parent company will restrict Russian state-owned media in Europe amid the country’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
“We have received requests from a number of Governments and the EU to take further steps in relation to Russian state controlled media,” Nick Clegg, Meta’s vice president of global affairs, announced on Twitter Monday afternoon. “Given the exceptional nature of the current situation, we will be restricting access to RT and Sputnik across the EU at this time.”
The announcement comes days after Russian forces attacked Ukraine from the north, east and south, encountering stiffer opposition than expected, according to U.S. and U.K. authorities.
Nick Clegg, VP of Global Affairs and Communications at Meta (Facebook), participates remotely in the Web Summit, Europe’s largest technology conference, in Lisbon, Portugal, November 2, 2021. (REUTERS/Pedro Nunes)
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“We will continue to work closely with Governments on this issue,” he added.
Meta did not immediately respond to a request for additional information.
Russian propaganda efforts have blamed the invasion on Ukraine, claiming a military intervention there would stop an alleged “genocide” of which there is no evidence.
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At the dawn of the invasion, Russian leader Vladimir Putin claimed he was seeking the “demilitarization and de-Nazification” of his smaller neighbor. He has also claimed Ukraine is being run by “drug addicts and neo-Nazis.”
Analysts say disinformation and propaganda are routine aspects Russia’s war policy.
Last week, an RT host claimed it was “absolutely false” that Russia was the aggressor in the conflict – a notion disputed by the U.S., NATO, European Union and Western allies.
A Ukrainian service member loads ammunition into cartridges, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues, in central Zhytomyr, Ukraine February 28, 2022. (REUTERS/Viacheslav Ratynskyi)
Sputnik reported that “Russia has started a military operation in Ukraine in order to clear the country of Nazis.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is Jewish. He has also refused to back down and remained in Kyiv over the weekend, turning down a U.S. offer of evacuation and asking for ammunition instead as Russian troops fought their way toward the Ukrainian capital.
Separately, Meta announced Sunday it had taken down a Russia-based fake news network targeting Ukraine under its policy against coordinated inauthentic behavior.
“We took down this operation, blocked their domains from being shared on our platform, and shared information with other tech platforms, researchers and governments,” the company said in a statement.
Cars are seen through the damaged window of a vehicle hit by bullets, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues, in Kyiv, Ukraine February 28, 2022. (Jedrzej Nowicki/Agencja Wyborcza.pl via REUTERS )
The network was taken down before it was able to spread its messaging, officials said – with fewer than 4,000 Facebook followers on one of its pages and less than 500 followers on its Instagram accounts.
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The fake accounts and pages used profile pictures generated by artificial intelligence and purported to belong to “independent news editors” as well as an engineer and a scientist, according to Meta.
White-hat hacking groups, including Anonymous, have also been targeting Russia’s state-owned media, with several of their websites crippled by denial of service attacks early Monday.
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At the same time, a malicious “threat actor” known as Ghostwriter has been attempting to hack Ukrainian public figures to post disinformation and pro-Russia propaganda, according to Meta, which said it was actively working to counter the threat.
Fox News’ David Rutz contributed to this report.
