Meta bans RT, days after U.S. accuses Russian outlet of disinformation

Social media giant Meta on Monday announced that it is banning Russian media outlet RT, days after the Biden administration accused RT of acting as an arm of Moscow's spy agencies.

"After careful consideration, we expanded our ongoing enforcement against Russian state media outlets. Rossiya Segodnya, RT and other related entities are now banned from our apps globally for foreign interference activity," a spokesperson at Meta said in a statement.

The move comes after the Biden administration on Friday announced new sanctions and a State Department official called the media outlet "a fully fledged member of the intelligence apparatus and operation of the Russian government" for the war in Ukraine.

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U.S. officials then accused RT of carrying out covert information warfare operations around the world on behalf of Russia's spy agencies.

James Rubin, coordinator for the State Department's Global Engagement Center, said that RT is "where propaganda, disinformation and lies are spread to millions, if not billions of people around the world."

Some of RT's operations are kept hidden, U.S. officials said.

In Africa, RT allegedly is behind an online platform called "African Stream" but hides its role; in Germany RT secretly runs a Berlin-based English-language site known as "Red"; and in France, RT hired a journalist in Paris to carry out "influence projects" aimed at a French-speaking audience, according to U.S. officials.

The Biden administration is imposing sanctions on a state-funded broadcaster that