Big tech grapples with Russian state media, propaganda
WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) — As Russia's war in Ukraine plays out for the world on social media, big tech platforms are facing increased calls to bar Russian state media from using their platforms to spread propaganda and misinformation.
None of the U.S.-owned tech companies have responded with an outright ban of those outlets. Instead they've offered more modest changes: limiting the Kremlin's reach, labeling more of this content so that people know it originated with the Russian government, and cutting Russian state organs off from whatever ad revenue they were previously making.
The changes are a careful balancing act intended to slow the Kremlin from pumping propaganda into social media feeds without angering Russian officials to the point that they yank their citizens' access to platforms during a crucial time of war, said Katie Harbath, a former public policy director for Facebook.
“They’re trying to walk this very fine line, they’re doing this dance,” said Harbath, who now serves as the director of technology and democracy at the International Republican Institute. “We want to stand up to Russia but we also don’t want to get shut down in the country. How far can we push this?”
Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, announced Monday it would restrict access to Russia's RT and Sputnik services in Europe, following a statement by European Union President Ursula von der Leyen over the weekend that officials are working to ban the sites throughout the EU.
The U.S. has not taken similar action or applied sanctions to Russian state media, leaving the American-owned tech companies to wrestle with how to blunt the Kremlin's reach on their own.
The results have been mixed.
RT and other Russian-state media accounts are still active on Facebook in the U.S. Twitter announced...
