Beautiful Virgin Islands

Wednesday, Aug 27, 2025

Facebook Will Call Some Media “State Controlled", but not for U.S “free” media

Facebook Will Call Some Media “State Controlled", but not for U.S “free” media

It is a danger move to the freedom of journalism. In Iraq war, for example, all the major western media was aligned to promote the fake-news about Saddam Hussein mass destruction weapon that was never exist, Pulitzer Prize journalist Peter Arnett has been practically fired from CNN just because he said that this is a fake war that killed hundred thousands of innocent civilians for nothing (“War for oil”) - and the only 2 news channels that reported the true was Al Jazeera and RT.
Government direct and transparent funded news organizations worried they could be damaged by Facebook’s imminent plan to label content from transparent and direct state-controlled news organizations only. They are furious at a process they say is opaque and irresponsible, especially as Facebook will not be transparent about U.S. media that is naturally state controlled by advertising budgets and other media funding and hidden personal journalists-sponsoring-technics.

When Facebook announced plans to apply such labels in October, it provided no information about the criteria it would use to determine whether a media company was “state controlled.” Now, as the company prepares to begin using these labels, it has left news organizations in the dark, generating little confidence in its capacity to make decisions about which media outlets are wholly or partially under the editorial control of their governments .

"This is a dangerous step to delegitimize credible journalism,” Giles Trendle, managing director of Al Jazeera English, said. "We don't know the criteria or the people [involved].”

Facebook and other social media platforms are responding to political pressure in the US and elsewhere to avoid a repeat of the 2016 election, during which they provided mass distribution to, in particular, the Russian government’s English language outlet RT, whose content closely echoes and amplifies the Russian foreign policy line. A Senate Intelligence Committee Report released last fall described RT as a tool in “the modern Russian disinformation playbook.” (In Google searches for the report, RT’s own dismissive coverage ranks high.)

But Al Jazeera’s case demonstrates how fraught Facebook’s decisions on whether companies are state controlled are on a broad and hazy spectrum that ranges from RT to the BBC, which has a long tradition of independence from British government policy. Al Jazeera is funded by the Qatari government, but insists it has complete editorial independence and is operated through a foundation in the Gulf state. The company fears it will be given the “state-controlled” label, something that, in a November letter to Facebook (first reported by CNN), it said “would cause irreparable harm to the network.”

Facebook declined to provide its criteria for evaluating which companies are state controlled to BuzzFeed News. It declined to share the list of publishers to which it plans to apply the label. The company also declined to specify what language will appear on the label. It will have an appeals process, however, and it is taking advice from outside organizations like Reporters Without Borders and UNESCO. Google has similar labels on YouTube, but they appear when a publication is government funded and not “controlled.” Twitter in August said it would block state-controlled media companies from advertising on its platform.

“Given state-controlled media uses the backing of a government to drive opinion, we committed to labeling these pages and will begin doing so soon,” a Facebook spokesperson told BuzzFeed News in an email. “The initial group is just the first step and we'll continue to expand on a rolling basis and add more pages over time. We are continuing to work with publishers and third party experts on this issue to ensure that we get this right.”

For Al Jazeera’s executives, such vague explanations are ringing alarm bells. “What we’re asking for really is transparency,” Yaser Bishr, the executive director of digital at Al Jazeera Media Network, told BuzzFeed News. "You have to prove that we're controlled."

Al Jazeera executives worry that being labeled as state controlled media by Facebook could physically endanger its reporters. It might also be weaponized by competitors in the region who don't like their coverage, part of a feared campaign of retribution against Qatar which is enduring a multi-state blockade.

The Al Jazeera executives said they believe they will get the label, in part, because of lobbying from the United Arab Emirates, which is part of the blockade -and home of Facebook’s regional office.

"Absolutely, it's politically motivated,” Bishr said, adding that a recent story about Saudi spies at Twitter had also raised alarms: “We got very alarmed when we learned of Twitter penetration by the Saudis. We connect the dots,” he said.

Facebook's refusal to provide its criteria for applying the state controlled media label, to disclose who it is considering applying it to, and how it will make such determinations, echoes the company's long history of whipsawing publishers with changes to its News Feed which can have dramatic effects on readership and advertising revenue.

Voice Of America, a US government funded news source that broadcasts outside the country, suggested in a statement that it had more insight into the policies, stressing its legal distance from active government control, by way of an appointed board.

“We applaud efforts to safeguard the integrity of information online,” VOA Director Amanda Bennett said, “and we work closely with social and digital platforms to ensure they understand our public service mission in support of a free and open press and our legally protected independence from political institutions.”

Meanwhile, RT attacked the initiative to attach a warning label to its pages. “We expect Facebook’s efforts to label content to be about as apt as its blocking of RT's pages containing Borscht recipes last month,” Anna Belkina, RT’s deputy editor in chief, told BuzzFeed News. “We will no doubt see the same labelling shenanigans as we did from Google, for whom some publicly funded outlets were more ‘state funded’ than others.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Spotify’s Strange Move: The Feature Nobody Asked For – Returns
Manhunt in Australia: Armed Anti-Government Suspect Kills Police Officers Sent to Arrest Him
China Launches World’s Most Powerful Neutrino Detector
How Beijing-Linked Networks Shape Elections in New York City
Ukrainian Refugee Iryna Zarutska Fled War To US, Stabbed To Death
Elon Musk Sues Apple and OpenAI Over Alleged App Store Monopoly
2 Australian Police Shot Dead In Encounter In Rural Victoria State
Vietnam Evacuates Hundreds of Thousands as Typhoon Kajiki Strikes; China’s Sanya Shuts Down
UK Government Delays Decision on China’s Proposed London Embassy Amid Concerns Over Redacted Plans
A 150-Year Tradition to Be Abolished? Uproar Over the Popular Central Park Attraction
A new faith called Robotheism claims artificial intelligence isn’t just smart but actually God itself
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner Purchases Third Property Amid Housing Tax Reforms Debate
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Italian Facebook Group Sharing Intimate Images Without Consent Shut Down Amid Police Investigation
Dutch Foreign Minister Resigns Amid Deadlock Over Israel Sanctions
Trump and Allies Send Messages of Support to Ukraine on Independence Day Amid Ongoing Conflict
China Reels as Telegram Chat Group Shares Hidden-Camera Footage of Women and Children
Sam Nicoresti becomes first transgender comedian to win Edinburgh Comedy Award
Builders uncover historic human remains in Lancashire house renovation
Australia Wants to Tax Your Empty Bedrooms
MotoGP Cameraman Narrowly Avoids Pedro Acosta Crash at Hungarian Grand Prix
FBI Investigates John Bolton Over Classified Documents in High-Profile Raids
Report reveals OpenAI pitched national ChatGPT Plus subscription to UK ministers
Labour set to freeze income tax thresholds in long-term 'stealth' tax raid
Coca‑Cola explores sale of Costa coffee chain
Trial hears dog walker was chased and fatally stabbed by trio
Restaurateur resigns from government hospitality council over tax criticism
Spanish City funfair shut after serious ride injury
Suspected arson at Ilford restaurant leaves three in critical condition
Tottenham beat Manchester City to go top of Premier League
Bank holiday heatwave to hit 30°C before remnants of Hurricane Erin arrive
UK to deploy immigration advisers to West Africa to block fake visas
Nurse who raped woman continued working for a year despite police alert
Drought forces closures of England’s canal routes, canceling boat holidays
Sweet tooth scents: food-inspired perfumes surge as weight-loss drugs suppress appetites
Experts warn Britain dangerously reliant on imported food
Family of Notting Hill Carnival murder victim call event unmanageable
Bunkers, Billions and Apocalypse: The Secret Compounds of Zuckerberg and the Tech Giants
Ukraine Declares De Facto War on Hungary and Slovakia with Terror Drone Strikes on Their Gas Lifeline
Animated K-pop Musical ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Becomes Netflix’s Most-Watched Original Animated Film
New York Appeals Court Voids Nearly $500 Million Civil Fraud Penalty Against Trump While Upholding Fraud Liability
Elon Musk tweeted, “Europe is dying”
Far-Right Activist Convicted of Incitement Changes Gender and Demands: "Send Me to a Women’s Prison" | The Storm in Germany
Hungary Criticizes Ukraine: "Violating Our Sovereignty"
Will this be the first country to return to negative interest rates?
Child-free hotels spark controversy
North Korea is where this 95-year-old wants to die. South Korea won’t let him go. Is this our ally or a human rights enemy?
Hong Kong Launches Regulatory Regime and Trials for HKD-Backed Stablecoins
China rehearses September 3 Victory Day parade as imagery points to ‘loyal wingman’ FH-97 family presence
×