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Kremlin blasts Meta actions

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White House declined comment

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Covert operations blamed

(Adds RT follower counts in paragraph 4)

By Katie Paul

NEW YORK, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Facebook owner Meta

said on Monday it was banning RT, Rossiya Segodnya and

other Russian state media networks from its platforms, claiming

the outlets had used deceptive tactics to carry out covert

influence operations online.

The ban, strongly criticised by the Kremlin, marks a sharp

escalation in measures by the world's biggest social media

company against Russian state media, after years of more limited

steps such as blocking the outlets from running ads and reducing

the reach of their posts.

"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," the social

media company said in a written statement.

In addition to Facebook, Meta's apps include Instagram,

WhatsApp and Threads. Prior to the ban, RT had more than 7.2

million followers on Facebook and more than 1 million followers

on Instagram.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday:

"Meta is discrediting itself with these actions. Such selective

actions against Russian media are unacceptable. ... This

complicates prospects for normalising our relations with Meta."

Moscow branded Meta an "extremist" organisation in 2022 and

blocked Instagram and Facebook, objecting to changes in Meta's

hate speech policy designed to allow users to vent their anger

over Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Russia has also criticized previous efforts by Meta to limit

the reach of Russian media and fined the company several times

for not removing content in Russia it considers illegal.

Moscow's pre-existing bans on Instagram and Facebook may

limit its ability to respond to Meta's state media block, but

WhatsApp, which Russia has stopped short of banning so far, is

used by millions of Russians.

Telegram Messenger, whose Russian founder Pavel Durov

was placed under formal investigation in France last month, is

also widely used in Russia.

VK Video, run by state-controlled tech firm VK

, offers an alternative to YouTube, which has come

under pressure in Russia over its own efforts to block Russian

state media.

The White House declined to comment on Meta's move, which

came after the United States filed money-laundering charges

against two RT employees for what officials said was a scheme to

hire an American company to produce online content to influence

the 2024 election.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday that

countries should treat RT's activities as they do covert

intelligence operations.

RT has mocked the U.S. actions and accused the United States

of trying to prevent the broadcaster from operating as a

journalistic organisation.

In briefing materials shared with Reuters, Meta said it had

seen Russian state-controlled media try to evade detection in

their online activities in the past and expected them to

continue trying to engage in deceptive practices going forward.