Facebook blocked several RT projects

Facebook has blocked several video projects of the RT channel, said Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of the channel, . RT claims that the blocking was caused by a CNN publication about the connections of these communities with the Kremlin.

Detailed. We are talking about the In the Now project and related Soapbox, Back Then and Waste-Ed, which are owned by the Berlin company Maffick Media. Communities were locked down on Friday, Feb. 15, Maffick said in a post. The videos of In the Now and its satellites have, according to RT , more than 2.5 billion views, according to CNN - tens of millions.

• Maffick believes that the only reason for blocking is the availability of government funding. As CNN previously reported in its "Kremlin Funds Millennials' Viral Videos" report, RT subsidiary Ruptly is the main owner of the Berlin-based media company.
• The official reason for the blocking is not yet known. But according to RT, Facebook said it would ask Soapbox, Back Then, and Waste-Ed admins to reveal their "Russian ties." “Subscribers to these pages should not be misled as to who is behind them,” the American company wrote in a message cited by RT.
• No advance warning was issued to Maffick. In response to the blocking of communities, the Berlin-based company called Facebook's policies "the new McCarthyism."

Context. In December, British media regulator Ofcom found RT guilty of violating broadcasting rules on seven episodes, including coverage of the Skripal case. Now the regulator is considering the possibility of imposing sanctions - fines and license revocation.

• In response to this, Roskomnadzor began checking the BBC World News channel and BBC resources on the Internet for compliance of their content with Russian law. In early January, the agency found on the website of the BBC Russian Service "materials broadcasting the ideological directives of international terrorist organizations."

Liana Faizova