Western governments are pushing for social media companies to remove Russian state-backed media from their platforms, as Big Tech is dragged into the information war that has raged following President Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine.
Meta-owned Facebook and Chinese short-form video platform TikTok on Monday both announced that they would block access to Russia Today and Sputnik in the EU following a request from the bloc designed to throttle pro-Russia propaganda.
Nick Clegg, Meta’s head of global affairs, said Facebook had received requests from a number of other governments and would “work closely” with them on the issue.