In Latin America alone, RT’s channels operate 24/7 and reported reaching 18 million viewers in 2018. African Stream, which was named by the State Department as part of the Russian state media influence structure and later removed by YouTube and Meta, gained 460,000 followers on YouTube in the two years since it launched. And Woolley points out that there is likely less competition for viewers in these markets than in the saturated U.S. media environment.
“(Russian media) have made progress in a limited media ecosystem, where attempts to control public opinion are much more effective,” he said. Russian media are particularly focused on anti-colonial and anti-Western narratives, which are especially noticeable in markets deeply influenced by Western imperialism. The United States also has state-run media outlets, such as Voice of America, which operates abroad. But the 1994 U.S. International Broadcasting Act “prohibits U.S. government officials from interfering with objective and independent news reporting,” according to the organization’s website.
Ruby Bledsoe, a research fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said even if Russian state media is banned from some social platforms, it is likely they will continue to spread their messaging more covertly through influencers and smaller publications they have built relationships with.
“Russian media outlets are not only good at disguising themselves as Russian government agencies, but they also leak their stories to local newspapers and media across the region,” she says, noting that South American broadcaster TeleSUR has sometimes partnered with RT. (Russia also sometimes supports local media, such as Afrique Media in Cameroon.) “All these second and tertiary news outlets are much smaller, but they can speak to a segment of the local population,” she says.
Russian media also helps cultivate local strongmen who are often sympathetic to its message. Bledsoe cites Inna Afinogenova, a Russian-Spanish broadcaster who used to work for RT but now has her own independent YouTube channel with more than 480,000 followers. (Afinogenova left RT after stating her opposition to the war in Ukraine.)
Bledsoe says the US ban may actually be a boon for Russian media in a part of the world where the country is actively trying to build its image as a trusted media brand. “The narrative shared through RT and other Russian and Iranian media is a kind of anti-imperialist critique of the West and the US,” Bledsoe says. “It’s saying that the US is the driving force behind this international system, that they’re plotting, that they’re trying to impose sovereignty on other countries.”
Meta has been a key vehicle for disseminating Russian state media content, but it has bases on other platforms as well. RT does not appear to have a verified TikTok account, but accounts that exclusively post RT content, such as @russian_news_ and @russiatodayfrance, have tens of thousands of followers on the app. African Stream’s TikTok is still live and has nearly a million followers. TikTok spokesperson Jamie Favazza spoke to WIRED about the company’s policy on election-related misinformation and disinformation.
RT’s account posted on X on Sept. 18, the day after the ban, linking to RT’s accounts on platforms including right-wing video-sharing platform Rumble, X and Russian YouTube alternative VK. (RT has 3.2 million followers on X and 125,000 on Rumble.) “Meta can ban us all they want, but you can always find us here,” the post read. X did not respond to a request for comment.
