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Facebook says blocked RT’s project over need to disclose data

The social network vowed to continue "improving so people could get more information about the pages they follow"

MOSCOW, February 19. /TASS/. Facebook has explained its blocking of a page of RT’s video project by the demand to disclose information about their parent company, the US-based social network’s press service told TASS on Tuesday.

RT Chief Editor Margarita Simonyan said earlier that Facebook had blocked a page related to one of the TV channel’s projects dubbed In the Now. The pages could have been shut down at CNN’s request, which accused RT of concealing its links to the Kremlin.

"People connecting with Pages shouldn’t be misled about who’s behind them… For example, we’re now rolling out in phases an update to Pages with large audiences to include information about the primary countries they’re managed from. Since this feature isn't live yet for all, we’ll be reaching out to admins of these Pages to ask that they disclose this additional information and their affiliation with their parent company to get back on the platform," Facebook said.

The social network noted that Facebook’s team stepped up its enforcement of coordinated inauthentic behavior and financially motivated spam over the past year. "We’ll continue improving so people can get more information about the Pages they follow," the press service said.

RT’s Telegram channel said In the Now project, the pages of which have been blocked, was launched by American journalist Anissa Naouai. The project and several of its affiliates have collected more than 2.5bln views, RT pointed out.