Facebook lifts ban from Russian television network

MOSCOW: Hours before Donald Trump takes charge as President of the United States, Facebook lifts ban from Russian television network RT (formerly Russia Today) on Friday (January 20). Facing criticism for allegedly spreading fake news that favoured Trump and racial bias in hate speech censorship, Facebook banned RT from posting live streams, videos and images on its page on Thursday (January 19).
"RT's right to share such content as live streams, images and videos with its over four million followers on its Facebook page were restored. The ban was put in place shortly after RT's broadcast of Barack Obama's final press conference as president," RT said in a report.
The ban was supposed to last until Saturday.
"The live-rights strike seems to be part of an algorithmic failure to acknowledge rights acquired by broadcasters and we hope it will be resolved in the short term," RT's Head of Social Media, Ivor Crotty, said.
"While Facebook is a powerful distributor of live-streams, it is struggling with the rights ramifications. RT will continue text-only posts to Facebook until the issue is resolved," Crotty added.
RT was live during outgoing US President Barack Obama's final press conference when a Facebook bot notification interrupted RT's live stream, stating that rights to the content had been claimed by Current Time TV, a project of Radio Liberty in collaboration with the Voice of America. 
"Radio Liberty is an independent corporation, financed by the US Congress," the report said.
Current Time TV denied any complaint against the Russian media outlet and said that the channel did not send any complaints regarding RT or any other organisations in connection with the live feed.
On Thursday, 77 advocacy groups wrote a letter to the social media giant asking it to be more transparent about its censorship decisions.
In the open letter, the advocacy groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), asked Facebook to be more transparent about its censorship decisions and sought a report that compiles data on the company's censorship decisions.