UK asks Meta, Tik Tok to prevent access to RT

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s culture minister said she had asked social media company Tik Tok and Facebook’s parent company Meta Platforms if they could prevent access to Russian state-owned television network RT in Britain.

Meta said on Monday it would restrict access to Russian media outlets RT and Sputnik on its platforms across the European Union.

Britain’s media regulator Ofcom said on Wednesday it was considering whether RT should retain its licence in the country, after it stepped up investigations into a channel the government has accused of being a tool of a Kremlin disinformation campaign.

“I was very glad to see yesterday that the channel is now officially off air on British televisions after it was shut down on Sky, Freeview and Freesat … I’ve written to Meta and Tik Tok asking them to do everything that they can do to prevent access to RT in the UK, as they’ve done in Europe,” Nadine Dorries told parliament on Thursday.

“We will not stop until we have persuaded every organisation, based in the UK or not, that is the wrong thing to do to stream Russian propaganda into British homes.”

In response, RT said it had long stopped expecting any legitimacy or reason in Britain’s attempts to curtail media freedoms.

“Now it seems it has forgotten Brexit and is seeking to force influence over the rest of Europe too,” Anna Belkina, RT’s deputy editor in chief, told Reuters.

Britain’s government has said an outright ban could lead to reciprocal action by Moscow against the BBC and other British media organisations.

(Reporting by Muvija M, Writing by Kylie MacLellan, editing by William James, Guy Faulconbridge and Paul Sandle)