Bowing to media criticism and internal pressure from its own employees, Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) said it will label Russian, Chinese and other state-controlled media organizations that use its platform and block advertisements from foreign outlets that target U.S. users or attempt to interfere in the upcoming American election.
The world’s biggest social media network said it will apply the label to Russia’s Sputnik, Iran’s Press TV and China’s Xinhua News, according to a partial list Facebook provided. The company will apply the label to about 200 pages on its platform to start.
However, Facebook said it will not label any U.S.-based news organizations, as it determined that even U.S. government-run outlets have editorial independence. Facebook, which has acknowledged its failure to stop Russian use of its platforms to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, has since stepped up its defenses and imposed greater transparency requirements for pages and advertisements on its platform.
The company is introducing the state media label amid criticism over its hands-off treatment of misleading and racially charged posts by U.S. President Donald Trump. Earlier this week, employees of Facebook staged protests over Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg’s refusal to police posts by Trump and his political team.
Facebook’s new measures come months ahead of the November U.S. presidential election.