2024-09-18 08:23:23
The guilty party has already been chosen? A few weeks after the letter from its founder Mark Zuckerberg, who expressed his “goal” to find “improper” and not influence one way or another in the elections of the President of the United States, while confirming his intention to “against” is probably new. entries to censored content, the Meta group announced on Monday September 16 its decision to ban its platforms from the main Russian state media group, “to avoid any foreign interference activity”. Moscow denounced the “unacceptable” decision on the part of the American company, which it “rejected” itself.
The first major allegations of Russian interference on the day of the US election date back to the 2016 election campaign in July of that year, the FBI opened an investigation into possible links between the Trump campaign and Russia. The following October, US intelligence agencies formally accused Russia of interfering in the election process.
Six years later, the revelations made by Elon Musk in the Twitter Files shortly after the purchase of his Twitter show the use, by American intelligence agencies, of this threat to force this social network and push his team to supervise The content is viral as well. according to its authors, such as former President Donald Trump.
Russian official media banned “to avoid interference”
In his letter, he addressed the upcoming presidential election which pits Donald Trump against Kamala Harris. Assuring that he and his team are “ready to face” possible pressure. He recalled that “platforms are accessible to everyone. We promote freedom of expression”. He said his goal was to “be neutral and not play a role one way or another – or even appear to play a role.”
On Monday, the Meta Group, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, announced that it will ban the main Russian media group from accessing these platforms worldwide. A measure intended to be a deterrent to “avoid any act of foreign interference”, two months before the election. “After careful consideration, we have expanded our action against Russian state media,” the American company announced. “Rossia Segodnia, RT and other related entities have been banned from our facilities worldwide due to their foreign interference activities,” he continued.
This decision comes three days after the declarations of the Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, last Friday, about the “disturbing activities of the Russian group Rossia Segodnia”, to which RT belongs, the “real branch” of Russian intelligence in the world. according to Washington. “These Kremlin-backed media companies are not only using a private force to undermine democracy in the United States, but to interfere in the sovereign affairs of countries around the world,” he said.
“It is not acceptable”, for Moscow
Before Blinken’s statement, the American authorities have introduced a battery of measures against this Russian group, including lawsuits and sanctions intended to respond to “attempts to interfere in the elections” attributed to Moscow. Some US prosecutors said that “RT carried out malicious influence campaigns in countries that oppose its policies, including the United States, with the aim of inciting domestic discord and thus weakening opposition to the government’s goals.” Russia.
The Kremlin reacted quickly. “Such actions against the Russian media are unacceptable,” the spokesman for the Russian president, Dmitri Peskov, emphasized. In his opinion, Meta “let himself down” by making this decision. Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, for her part has said in a Telegram post on the American announcements: “I think there should be a new job in the United States: specialist in sanctions against Russia”.
As a reminder, Facebook and Instagram were banned in Russia in March 2022, right after the invasion of Ukraine. Meta’s parent company has been classified as an “extremist” organization. In November 2023, a spokesman for the American team was charged in absentia in Russia. A Russian court ordered Andy Mark Stone’s pre-trial detention, the day after he was placed on Moscow’s wanted list. A spokesperson for the tech giant is accused of “promoting terrorist activities”.
It is a statement in which he declares that Meta has “temporarily authorized forms of political expression that will always violate our laws, such as violent words like ‘death to Russian opposition'”.
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