Meta bars Russian state media from running ads on platform

The company will also continue to apply labels to additional state media

Meta Platforms is barring Russian state media from monetising on its platform anywhere in the world. Reuters

Meta Platforms is barring Russian state media from running ads or monetising on its platform anywhere in the world, the parent company of social media giant Facebook said on Friday.

"We also continue to apply labels to additional Russian state media," its security policy head, Nathaniel Gleicher, said on Twitter.

"These changes have already begun rolling out and will continue into the weekend."

"We are now prohibiting Russian state media from running ads or monetising on our platform anywhere in the world," he added.

Russia said on Friday it was partially limiting access to Meta Platforms' Facebook, accusing it of "censoring" Russian media, the latest in a series of steps taken against US social media companies and announced a day after Russian troops crossed the border into Ukraine.

The state communications regulator said Facebook had ignored its demands to lift restrictions on four Russian media outlets on its platform — RIA news agency, the Defence Ministry's Zvezda TV, and websites gazeta.ru and lenta.ru.

Meta's head of global affairs, Nick Clegg, said in a statement on Twitter: "Yesterday, Russian authorities ordered us to stop the independent fact-checking and labeling of content posted to Facebook by four Russian state-owned media organizations.

"We refused. As a result, they have announced they will be restricting the use of our services."