Russia’s RT attacks Facebook for suspending 4 viral news channels that broadcasted Kremlin talking points to millennials

Maxim Shemetov/Reuters; Sputnik/Mikhail Klementyev/Kremlin via Reuters; Christophe Morin/IP3/Getty

Facebook on Friday suspended four viral news channels that broadcasted videos critical of US policy, or which exploit existing tensions, CNN reported.
Those channels are operated by Maffick Media, which is majority-funded by Ruptly, a subsidiary of Russia’s state-funded RT broadcaster.
Facebook doesn’t require pages to disclose who funds them — but the tech giant said it suspended those channels anyway so viewers won’t "be misled about who’s behind them."
RT’s editor-in-chief attacked Facebook’s decision on Monday. Maffick’s CEO also described the suspension as "unprecedented discrimination."

The editor of the Russian state-owned broadcaster RT has attacked Facebook for suspending four viral video channels that broadcasted Kremlin talking points to millennials.

Facebook on Friday suspended Soapbox, which makes videos about current affairs; Waste-Ed, an environmental channel; Backthen, a history channel; and In the NOW, a millennial-focused news channel, CNN reported.

Those channels publish videos critical of US and NATO foreign policy, American waste habits, and news issues like Russia being banned from the 2018 Winter Olympics. While the videos do not overtly criticize the US and applaud Russia, they often play on existing tensions in the US.

The channels’ videos garnered tens of millions of views on Facebook before the suspension, CNN and RT both reported.

In response, RT’s editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan tweeted Monday morning: "Facebook has blocked our projects with billions of views!!!" She also said Facebook blocked the pages without giving RT a chance to respond.

All the pages are run by Maffick Media, a German-registered company that operates up to a dozen contractors and freelancers out of a WeWork office in Hollywood, CNN reported.

In the NOW/YouTube

Maffick’s murky finances

According to company records in Germany, Maffick is 51% owned by Ruptly, an RT subsidary registered in Berlin. The remaining 49% is controlled by Maffick CEO Anissa Naouai, a former RT presenter.

CNN cited those company records, crediting German news site T-Online and the Alliance for Securing Democracy, an anti-Kremlin advocacy group run by former US intelligence and State Department and intelligence officials.

Maffick’s Facebook pages do not mention their parent company or stakeholders. Facebook typically doesn’t require pages to declare such information.

Facebook said it would ask the page owners to disclose where the channels are run from and their affiliation with Ruptly, CNN reported. "People connecting with Pages shouldn’t be misled about who’s behind them," a Facebook spokesman told CNN.

Facebook has become stricter at policing content on its pages over the last year. The company has over the past six months taken down hundreds of pages and accounts deemed to be part of campaigns to influence politics around the world, in countries like the US and Moldova.

REUTERS/Leah Millis

"In the NOW" still operates an active channel on YouTube and regularly posts videos from Soapbox. Those videos, however, carrier a disclaimer highlighting the channel’s link to RT and the Russian government.

RT’s US affiliate registered as a foreign agent in the US under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) in late 2017. Simonyan, the RT editor-in-chief, called the requirement "war the US establishment wages with our journalists."

Sergei Chirikov/Pool via Reuters

‘Unprecedented discrimination’

Simonyan reacted to Facebook’s suspensions with outrage in a series of Monday morning tweets.

"CNN, on a tip from a fund funded by the State Department and NATO, made material that this project is funded from Russia," Simonyan wrote.

It is not entirely clear where she based this allegation on — it is likely that she was referring to the Alliance for Securing Democracy. Business Insider has contacted CNN for comment.

Simonyan also suggested that Facebook had suspended Maffick’s pages only after CNN asked it about Maffick’s links to the Russian government. "We did not violate Facebook rules, we have never had any complaints," she said.

Naouai, Maffick’s CEO, described Facebook’s suspension as "unprecedented discrimination" in a post, noting that the company doesn’t ask other channels to declare their parent company and financial affiliations.

Rania Khalek, an American commentator who presents some Soapbox videos, also told CNN that working for Maffick "is not an endorsement of the policies of its sponsors, just like working for CNN is not an endorsement of the pharmaceutical companies or weapons companies that play advertisements on CNN."

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