TikTok said Monday it had removed accounts belonging to Russian state media outlets RT and Sputnik for engaging in what TikTok called “covert influence operations.”The social video app said in a statement on its website that it removed accounts associated with TV-Novosti and Rossiya Segodnya, the parent organizations of the RT television network and the Russian news agency Sputnik. The suspensions follow the Biden administration’s accusations this month that RT acts as an arm of Moscow’s spy agencies. Social media rivals Meta and YouTube have announced similar suspensions of Russian state media accounts, although other tech companies such as X have left up RT and Sputnik accounts. RT and Sputnik both published reports over the weekend saying that some of their accounts had been deleted without explanation. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said this month that he believed Russian outlets such as RT had moved beyond working as media outlets and had turned into covert intelligence operations.

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Persons: TikTok, Rossiya Segodnya, ’, ” Sputnik, Antony Blinken, Margarita Simonyan, ” Organizations: Sputnik, Novosti, NBC News, Biden, Social, Meta, YouTube, RT, Federal, “, Reuters Locations: Russian, Russia, U.S, United States of America, Mexico