‘Nuclear Option’: Russian State Media Banned From Facebook And Instagram As More ‘Interference Activities’ Uncovered

Meta, the parent company for social media platforms Facebook and Instagram, banned Russian state media outlets in a move CNN International correspondent Clare Sebastian called a “nuclear option.”

“I wanted to ask you about this bomb of Russian state media, one of the channels right on matter platforms. Pretty dramatic move,” Sebastian was asked in the early morning hours on CNN.

“Yeah. This is RT, an affiliate of channels, used to be called Russia Today, has been in the spotlight a lot recently. Meta now saying that it’s banning them all with, you know, millions plus followers for, quote, ‘foreign interference activity,’” Sebastian began, adding:

They’re worried, of course, that they’re using the platform to conduct essentially covert information operations on behalf of the Russian government. And it comes, of course, as we’ve seen, this intensifying crackdown from the US, not only as it relates to election interference.

We saw charges, of course, leveled against two employees using a sort of front company in the US. They’re accused of to try and influence the elections, but also they’re very worried about their global operations, trying to sort of influence political situations around the world. And U.S. intelligence now believes, of course, that the Russian government has embedded an intelligence unit within RT. So it’s functioning obviously now as much more than a media outlet. And this is sort of brought Meta, I think, to this real nuclear option of banning them entirely from the platforms.

The Department of Justice recently indicted two RT employees over a Russian government scheme that paid millions of dollars to pro-Trump media figures, including Tim Pool, Dave Rubin, Benny Johnson, and others. While those figures claimed to be victims in the scheme, perpetrated by Tenet Media, they have long pushed pro-Trump rhetoric, including the former president’s uncritical stance on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Watch the clip above via CNN.