The world’s largest tech platforms have taken action against Russia, blocking state-based media advertising on their platforms and boosting fact-checking abilities.
Amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Meta, Twitter, and Google have all announced new tools and restrictions.
Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, says it is providing more transparency around state-controlled media outlets, as well as prohibiting ads from Russian state media and demonetising their accounts.
The company has also added several safety features in Ukraine, including the ability for people to lock their Facebook profiles. Meta has also established a special operations centre to monitor the platform and respond to issues in real time, and is expanding its third-party fact-checking capacity in Russian and Ukrainian.
“We have been in contact with the government of Ukraine,” Meta says.
“At their request, we have restricted access to several accounts in Ukraine, including those belonging to some Russian state media organisations. We are also reviewing other government requests to restrict Russian state controlled media.”
"Twitter also responded to the latest developments in Ukraine. The social media platform announced on February 26 that it was temporarily pausing ads in Ukraine and Russia to ensure “critical public safety information is elevated and ads don’t detract from it”.
Google has blocked state-owned media outlets, including RT, and other channels from receiving advertising revenue on its websites, apps, and YouTube videos.
According to reports, Google is also blocking Russian state-funded media outlets from using its ad technology to generate revenue on their own websites and apps. Russian media will also not be able to buy ads through Google Tools or place ads on Google services such as Gmail.
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