The accounts of RIA Novosti, Simonyan, Solovyov, Zyuganov were censored on Twitter and, by mistake, the Russian-language blog of the US State Department

The FBI worked with the SBU to remove pro-Russian social media accounts, broadcasts CNN with reference to the report of the Judiciary Committee of the US House of Representatives.

“The report contains accusations against the FBI in connection with the improper verification of social media accounts that one of Ukraine’s main intelligence agencies, the SBU, flagged as spreading Russian disinformation. According to the report, some of the accounts that the FBI turned over to Meta* for review actually contained criticism of Russia,” the TV channel reports.

An adviser to the judicial committee told the TV channel that the committee intends to use the document to allege the authorities’ unlawful interference with freedom of speech. It is specified that FBI chief Christopher Ray is due to address Congress this week.

According to media reports, the report is based on information from several subpoenas that the committee sent to Meta*, as well as Alphabet, the parent company Google And YouTubein February as part of an investigation into the possible involvement of the US federal government in social media censorship.

The committee alleges in its report that the SBU sent lists of accounts allegedly “spreading Russian disinformation” to the FBI, and US authorities passed those lists on to social media. According to the report, both services tagged real American accounts, including a verified State Department account, as well as accounts owned by US journalists. As noted in the emails cited in the report, the FBI does not demand the removal of content, but asks social networks to review accounts and “take action as they see fit.”

* Meta activity (social networks Facebook, Instagram, Threads) is banned in Russia as extremist.

How anti-Russian censorship works

FBI special agent Kobzanets, seconded to the US Embassy in Kyiv, received requests from the SBU and passed them on to the leadership of the social network

The original of this material

© RIA News”06/07/2023, Media: The FBI, at the request of Kyiv, censored RIA Novosti posts on Twitter

The Federal Bureau of Investigation helped the SBU to censor publications in Twitter Russian politicians, public figures and the media, including RIA Novosti and TV channel RT, reported on the Substack platform journalist Aaron Mate, citing leaked internal correspondence.

“In continuation of our conversation, I am adding a list of accounts that I received over the past few weeks from the Security Service of Ukraine. These accounts are suspected by the SBU of spreading fear and disinformation. For your study and consideration,” reads one of the letters.

The list of people accused by the Ukrainian authorities of spreading “disinformation” was received from the SBU by FBI special agent Oleksandr Kobzanets, who was assigned to the US Embassy in Kiev, and he forwarded them to the leadership of Twitter.

This list includes:

RIA News;

editor-in-chief of the Russia Today media group and RT Margarita Simonyan;

TV channels REN TV and Channel One;

journalist Vladimir Solovyov;

Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov;

writer and politician Zakhar Prilepin;

military expert Igor Korotchenko;

singer Oleg Gazmanov;

former head of Roskosmos Dmitry Rogozin.

In addition, it lists a Ukrainian blogger Anatoly Shariy.

Of the 163 accounts listed, the social network has suspended 34, the publication said.