With only six weeks remaining until the U.S. presidential election, Meta has announced an expanded ban on Russian state media accounts following recent investigations that revealed efforts by Russia-based groups to influence U.S. voter opinions.

As reported by Reuters:

“Meta stated on Monday that it would ban RT, Rossiya Segodnya, and other Russian state media networks from its platforms, asserting that these outlets employed deceptive tactics for covert influence operations online. This decision follows the United States filing money-laundering charges earlier this month against two RT employees involved in a scheme to hire an American company to create online content aimed at swaying the 2024 election.”

The scheme involved a Russian influence group paying right-wing commentators in the U.S. to exacerbate political division through a front media company based in Tennessee named “Tenet Media.” 

Tenet Media reportedly paid millions to several well-known online commentators, including Tim Pool, Benny Johnson, and Dave Rubin, to produce videos centered on specific topics and angles. The commentators were unaware that they were being utilized by Russian state media to incite voter unrest. This revelation highlights the lengths to which foreign operatives will go to influence international voters.

Meta has faced significant scrutiny since the 2016 U.S. election, when it was revealed that Russian groups exploited Facebook ads and groups to provoke American voters. While some have speculated that these efforts contributed to Donald Trump’s election, it remains unclear if they favored any particular candidate or were simply aimed at shifting global perspectives on issues pertinent to Russian interests.

For example, regarding the war in Ukraine:

“In one instance, [RT] requested [Tenet Media] to create a video blaming Ukraine and the United States for a mass shooting at a Moscow music venue, despite the Islamic State claiming responsibility,” according to the Justice Department.

This type of influence is characteristic of RT, which focuses less on promoting one candidate over another and more on providing alternative narratives that reduce scrutiny on Russia's actions.

Similarly, Chinese influence groups employ comparable strategies, subtly questioning U.S. aggression or interference in Chinese affairs. These tactics are often less overt than one might expect, and while there have been indications that Russian operatives may prefer Trump to win the upcoming election, the overarching aim seems to be raising awareness of supposedly “hidden” agendas that diminish scrutiny of Russia’s involvement.

Meta has been actively countering Russian influence operations on its platforms for years, including its ongoing efforts to dismantle an initiative known as “Doppelganger,” which aims to undermine international support for Ukraine.

As outlined in its Q1 adversarial threat report, Meta stated:

“Nearly two years ago, we were the first technology company to publicly report on Doppelganger, an operation centered around a large network of websites spoofing legitimate news outlets. The EU Disinfo Lab and the Digital Forensic Research Lab published open-source research at the same time. In December 2022, we were the first to publicly attribute it to two companies in Russia that were sanctioned by the EU in 2023 and by the U.S. Treasury Department in 2024.”

Thus, while Russian influence operations remain a persistent issue, Meta’s decision to broaden its enforcement against Russian state media marks a significant step. This move is likely to provoke the ire of Russian leadership, but they have limited options for retaliation, having already banned both Facebook and Instagram in 2022 for not complying with requests to remove misinformation regarding Ukraine.

Other social media platforms have also taken action against RT in the past; for instance, Twitter banned RT from advertising in 2017 due to concerns related to its election interference activities (though Elon Musk lifted those bans after acquiring the platform). Facebook has imposed restrictions on RT before but has not entirely blocked the outlet.

It remains uncertain how far Meta intends to go this time. However, with just six weeks until the U.S. election and clear evidence of attempted influence activities, it’s logical for Meta to take decisive action now to prevent further complications.

It will be interesting to see the extent of Meta’s restrictions and whether it maintains this stance after the election.