PRESS RELEASE
20 June 2025
New Analysis Shows Meta Platforms Ireland Ltd. May Have Violated Sanctions and Channeled Money to RT, Sputnik and Other EU-sanctioned Entities via Facebook’s Revenue Redistribution Programs
Facebook pages affiliated with RT, Sputnik and other EU-sanctioned entities were among Meta’s active partner-publishers for months after being subject to EU sanctions. Some of these partnerships remain active as of June 2025.
| Media Inquiries: press@whattofix.tech
A new investigation by WHAT TO FIX, which builds on Meta’s own partner-publisher disclosures downloaded over 5 1/2 years, reveals how Meta continued to engage in — and in some cases initiated new — revenue redistribution partnerships with actors subject to EU sanctions.
- Meta initially demonetized all RT and Sputnik-affiliated Facebook pages following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
- The EU implemented broadcasting sanctions against RT and Sputnik on 1 March 2022. Their parent entities were later added to the EU's financial sanction list on 16 December 2022 and 25 February 2023.
- Meta’s own data reveals that it re-onboarded the Sputnik, Sputnik France, Sputnik Italia and SNA (Sputnik Deutschland) pages for monetization beginning in October 2022. Some of these pages remained listed as active partner-publishers until October 2023.
- The Sputnik France, Sputnik Italia and SNA pages were not only restored to their original revenue redistribution program, but also added onto a new program, a process requiring a formal onboarding review.
- In July 2023, Meta also onboarded an entirely new page for RT Arabic. That page remains listed for video monetization as of June 2025.
- Meta's partner-publisher lists also included other sanctioned individuals: Polina Gagarina (sanctioned in June 2024) and Sylvain Afoua (sanctioned in May 2025). Afoua's page — Egountchi Behanzin — continues to be listed for video monetization as of June 2025. It remains accessible within the EU, continues to display ads, and continues to benefit from Facebook's audience subscription feature.
While we cannot assert that funds were transferred based solely on Meta's existing disclosures, the fact that these accounts were among Facebook’s partner-publishers, which reflect the platform’s ‘vetted’ publishers within its ad inventory, raises serious concerns. During our investigation, we found ads running on at least one sanctioned entity's Facebook page, indicating that Meta actively sold ad placements there. This raises two critical questions: what happened to the generated revenue, and did these actors accrue revenue —even if no fund transfers were ultimately made?
The European Commission's consolidated FAQs provides detailed guidance on how the EU financial and broadcasting sanctions are to be interpreted.
WHAT TO FIX executive director Victoire Rio said:
Meta should have been aware of RT and Sputnik pages’ affiliation, having verified and labelled the pages as Russia state-controlled media and initially demonetized them after Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine. We were surprised to find that Meta reinstated these pages to their partner-publisher lists, and even went as far as to add them into new programs and onboard new pages. Meta would need to confirm whether it transferred any funds to actors associated with these pages —but the fact that pages affiliated with sanctioned entities were included on Facebook’s partner-publisher lists, which reflects Facebook’s ‘vetted’ publishers’ ad inventory, is in itself a major concern. As part of our investigation, we found ads being displayed on Sylvain Afoua's videos. Are advertisers aware that their ads are showing on pages affiliated with sanctioned entities? What happened to the revenue that was generated? And was any revenue accrued by a sanctioned entity as part of revenue redistribution partnerships — even if no fund transfers were ultimately made? Our findings point to an urgent need for more scrutiny into social media monetization partnerships. Revenue redistribution programs are booming across all platforms and it’s extremely concerning that we don’t have more visibility into who gets paid by platforms for distributing content. The European Union is widely regarded as leading the way on social media regulation, yet its regulatory oversight of social media monetization services remains wildly inadequate.WHAT TO FIX’s findings come as Facebook’s revenue redistribution programs’ membership continues to grow at an unprecedented pace.
Over 2.5 million new accounts have been added across programs since January 2025, with over 5.2 million unique accounts monetized as of May 2025 — a dramatic increase from fewer than 500,000 in January 2023.
These findings also come as every major social media platform — including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat, X and, as of May 2025, Linkedin — has introduced monetization opportunities for content publishers, including revenue redistribution programs.
Besides highlighting major issues with Meta’s compliance with EU sanctions, the findings raise serious concerns over the adequacy of platforms’ monetization systems and their regulatory oversight.
Meta remains the only company to disclose lists of its active partner-publishers.
None of the social media platforms classified as VLOPs in the EU reported monetization-related risks in their DSA risk assessment and mitigation reports.
WHAT TO FIX provided Meta with an opportunity to comment on the report’s findings and the questions it raises more than a week prior to publication. Meta did not acknowledge or respond to WHAT TO FIX’s request.
In response to inquiries from the Süddeutsche Zeitung, Le Monde, and Politico, who received an advanced copy of the report, Meta responded that inclusion in their partner-publisher list is not in itself evidence that an account has received payouts, and that any party on the list is still subject to its sanctions controls. It further stated that it is committed to complying with applicable sanctions laws including EU sanctions.
WHAT TO FIX’s detailed investigation can be accessed here.
Background on social media monetization and revenue redistribution programs can be found here.
Background on social media monetization and revenue redistribution programs can be found here.