London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Jul 10, 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

0:00
0:00
Close
Severe Heatwave Claims 2,300 Lives Across Europe
NVIDIA Achieves Historic Milestone as First Company Valued at $4 Trillion
Declining Beer Consumption Signals Cultural Shift in Germany
Linda Yaccarino Steps Down as CEO of X After Two Years
US Imposes New Tariffs on Brazilian Exports Amid Political Tensions
Azerbaijan and Armenia are on the brink of a historic peace deal.
Emails Leaked: How Passenger Luggage Became a Side Income for Airport Workers
Polish MEP: “Dear Leftists - China is laughing at you, Russia is laughing, India is laughing”
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Weinstein Victim’s Lawyer Says MeToo Movement Still Strong
U.S. Enacts Sweeping Tax and Spending Legislation Amid Trade Policy Shifts
Football Mourns as Diogo Jota and Brother André Silva Laid to Rest in Portugal
Labour Expected to Withdraw Support for Special Needs Funding Model
Leaked Audio Reveals Tory Aide Defending DEI Record
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
London Stock Exchange Faces Historic Low in Initial Public Offerings
A new online platform has emerged in the United Kingdom, specifically targeting Muslim men seeking virgin brides
Trump Celebrates Independence Day with B-2 Flyover and Signs Controversial Legislation
Boris Johnson Urges Conservatives to Ignore Farage
SNP Ordered to Update Single-Sex Space Guidance Within Days
Starmer Set to Reject Calls for Wealth Taxes
Stolen Century-Old Rolls-Royce Recovered After Hotel Theft
Macron Presses Starmer to Recognise Palestinian State
Labour Delayed Palestine Action Ban Over Riot Concerns
Swinney’s Tax Comments ‘Offensive to Scots’, Say Tories
High Street Retailers to Enforce Bans on Serial Shoplifters
Music Banned by Henry VIII to Be Performed After 500 Years
Steve Coogan Says Working Class Is Being ‘Ethnically Cleansed’
Home Office Admits Uncertainty Over Visa Overstayer Numbers
JD Vance Questions Mandelson Over Reform Party’s Rising Popularity
Macron to Receive Windsor Carriage Ride in Royal Gesture
Labour Accused of ‘Hammering’ Scots During First Year in Power
BBC Head of Music Stood Down Amid Bob Vylan Controversy
Corbyn Eyes Hard-Left Challenge to Starmer’s Leadership
London Tube Trains Suspended After Major Fire Erupts Nearby
Richard Kemp: I Felt Safer in Israel Under Attack Than in the UK
Cyclist Says Police Cited Human Rights Act for Riding No-Handed
China’s Central Bank Consults European Peers on Low-Rate Strategies
AI Raises Alarms Over Long-Term Job Security
Saudi Arabia Maintains Ties with Iran Despite Israel Conflict
Musk Battles to Protect Tesla Amid Trump Policy Threats
Air France-KLM Acquires Majority Stake in Scandinavian Airlines
UK Educators Sound Alarm on Declining Child Literacy
Shein Fined €40 Million in France Over Misleading Discounts
Brazil’s Lula Visits Kirchner During Argentina House Arrest
Trump Scores Legislative Win as House Passes Tax Reform Bill
Keir Starmer Faces Criticism After Rocky First Year in Power
DJI Launches Heavy-Duty Coaxial Quadcopter with 80 kg Lift Capacity
U.S. Senate Approves Major Legislation Dubbed the 'Big Beautiful Bill'
Largest Healthcare Fraud Takedown in U.S. History Announced by DOJ
×