Social media rivals Meta and YouTube have announced similar suspensions of Russian state media accounts this month.

TikTok said Monday it had removed accounts belonging to the Russian state media outlets RT and Sputnik for engaging in what it 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. TikTok said the accounts had violated its community guidelines, in particular its ban on deceptive behavior.

The associated accounts are now permanently banned, a TikTok spokesperson said in an email.