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Meta bans Russian state media outlets from running ads or monetizing content on Facebook

Sam Tabahriti   

Meta bans Russian state media outlets from running ads or monetizing content on Facebook
LifeInternational1 min read
  • Meta barred Russian state media from running ads or monetizing content on Facebook.
  • Nathaniel Gleicher, head of security policy, announced the ban on Twitter.

Meta has prohibited Russian state media from running ads or monetizing content on Facebook.

Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebook's head of security policy, announced the ban on Twitter.

The move follows the Russian military entry into Ukraine on Thursday from different parts of the country. Frequent airstrikes and shelling have since occurred.

One of the baseless claims Vladimir Putin has made to justify the invasion is that Ukraine is committing genocide against ethnic Russians, calling its government a Nazi regime.

Gleicher said: "We are now prohibiting Russian state media from running ads or monetizing on our platform anywhere in the world. We also continue to apply labels to additional Russian state media."

He added: "These changes have already begun rolling out and will continue into the weekend. We are closely monitoring the situation in Ukraine," adding they will carry on sharing steps the company's taking to protect people "on our platform."

A Meta spokesperson told Insider via email: "We are taking extensive steps to fight the spread of misinformation on our services in the region and continuing to consult with outside experts."

He added: "We're removing content that violates our policies, and working with third-party fact-checkers in the region to debunk false claims."

When content is rated as false, Meta said it move the content lower in the feed so fewer people see it. "We're also giving people more information to decide what to read, trust, and share by adding warning labels on content rated false, and applying labels to state-controlled media publishers," the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson added: "Our thoughts are with everyone affected by the escalating military conflict in Ukraine."

Insider's Isobel Asher Hamilton previously reported that Meta had set up a special team to deal with hate speech and misinformation related to Ukraine.

Other Big Tech platforms are grappling with how to handle the escalating conflict. Twitter said that it had mistakenly blocked accounts that were sharing footage of the invasion from Ukraine, justifying the erroneous blocks with misinformation.

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