WASHINGTON -- As Russiaâs war in Ukraine plays out for the world on social media, big tech platforms are moving to restrict Russian state media from using their platforms to spread propaganda and misinformation.
After the European Unionâs president called for a ban on Russian state media, a wave of tech companies blocked the channels from their platforms.
Google announced Tuesday that itâs blocking the YouTube channels of those outlets in Europe âeffective immediatelyâ but acknowledged âitâll take time for our systems to fully ramp up.â Russiaâs RT and Sputnik accounts were also disabled in Europe on Chinaâs TikTok, a video-sharing platform, a company spokesperson confirmed Tuesday. The actions followed Metaâs announcement that it would bar the state media from its platforms, Instagram and Facebook.
Tech companies have also offered more modest changes in other parts of the world so far: limiting the Kremlinâs 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 citizensâ access to platforms during a time of war, said Katie Harbath, a former public policy director for Facebook.
âTheyâre trying to walk this very fine line; theyâre doing this dance,â said Harbath, who now serves as director of technology and democracy at the International Republican Institute. âWe want to stand up to Russia, but we also donât want to get shut down in the country. How far can we push this?â
The U.S. government has not applied sanctions to Russian state media or called on the tech companies to take action, leaving the American-owned tech companies to wrestle with how to blunt the Kremlinâs 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 Monday that after seeing more than 45,000 tweets daily from users sharing Russian state-affiliated media links in recent days, it will add labels to content from the Kremlinâs websites. The company also said it would not recommend or direct users to Russian-affiliated websites in its search function.
Over the weekend, the Menlo Park, California-based company announced it was banning ads from Russian state media and had removed a network of 40 fake accounts, pages and groups that published pro-Russian talking points. The network used fictitious persons posing as journalists and experts, but didnât have much of an audience.
Facebook began labeling state-controlled media outlets in 2020.
Meanwhile, Microsoft announced it wouldnât display content or ads from RT and Sputnik, or include RTâs apps in its app store. And Googleâs YouTube restricted Russian-state media from monetizing the site through ads, although the outlets are still uploading videos every few minutes on the site.
On TikTok, a Chinese platform popular in the U.S. for short, funny videos, state-affiliated media is not labeled as such. And pro-Russian pro-Russian propaganda and misinformation around the war has flourished on its site.
One recent video posted to RTâs TikTok channel, which is still active in the U.S., features a clip of Steve Bannon, a former top adviser to ex-President Donald Trump who now hosts a podcast with a penchant for misinformation and conspiracy theories.
âUkraine isnât even a country. Itâs kind of a concept,â Bannon said in the clip, echoing a claim by Russian President Vladimir Putin. âSo when we talk about sovereignty and self-determination itâs just a corrupt area where the Clintons have turned into a colony where they can steal money.â
Already, Facebookâs efforts to limit Russian state mediaâs reach have drawn ire from Russia. Last week, Meta officials said they had rebuffed Russiaâs request to stop fact-checking or labeling posts made by Russian state media. Kremlin officials responded by restricting access to Facebook.
The company has also denied requests from Ukrainian officials who have asked Meta to remove access to its platforms in Russia. That would prevent everyday Russians from using the platforms to learn about the war, voice their views or organize protests, according to Nick Clegg, recently named the companyâs vice president of global affairs
âWe believe turning off our services would silence important expression at a crucial time,â Clegg wrote on Twitter Sunday.
More aggressive labeling of state media and moves to de-emphasize their content online might help reduce the spread of harmful material without cutting off a key information source, said Alexandra Givens, CEO of the Center for Democracy and Technology, a Washington non-profit.
âThese platforms are a way for dissidents to organize and push back,â Givens said. âThe clearest indication of that is the regime has been trying to shut down access to Facebook and Twitter.â
Russia has spent years creating its sprawling propaganda apparatus, which boasts dozens of sites that target millions of people in different languages. That preparation is making it hard for any tech company to mount a rapid response, said Graham Shellenberger at Miburo Solutions, a firm that tracks misinformation and influence campaigns.
âThis is a system that has been built over 10 years, especially when it comes to Ukraine,â Shellenberger said. âTheyâve created the channels, theyâve created the messengers. And all the sudden now, weâre starting to take action against it.â
Redfish, a Facebook page that is labeled as Russian-state controlled media, has built up a mostly U.S. and liberal-leaning audience of more than 800,000 followers over the years.
The page has in recent days posted anti-U.S. sentiment and sought to downplay Russianâs invasion of Ukraine, calling it a âmilitary operationâ and dedicating multiple posts to highlighting anti-war protests across Russia.
One Facebook post also used a picture of a map to highlight airstrikes in other parts of the world.
âDonât let the mainstream mediaâs Eurocentrism dictate your moral support for victims of war,â the post read.
Last week, U.S. Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia sent letters to Google, Meta, Reddit, Telegram, TikTok and Twitter urging them to curb such Russian influence campaigns on their websites.
âIn addition to Russiaâs established use of influence operations as a tool of strategic influence, information warfare constitutes an integral part of Russian military doctrine,â Warner wrote.
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Klepper reported from Providence, R.I. AP Business Writer Kelvin Chan in London contributed to this report.