(REUTERS), SAN FRANCISCO - Facebook Inc will start labelling Russian, Chinese and other state-controlled media organisations, and later this summer block any ads from such outlets that target US users, it said on Thursday.
Russia’s Sputnik, Iran’s Press TV and China’s Xinhua News are on the list of organisations that will receive the label from the world’s biggest social network.
US news outlets will not be labelled, as the company has determined that even US government-run organizations have editorial independence, said Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebook’s head of cybersecurity policy, in an interview.
Facebook, which has acknowledged its failure to stop Russian use of its platforms to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, announced broad plans last year to create a state media label.