Facebook blocks Russian broadcaster RT on day of Donald Trump inauguration

FACEBOOK banned Russia's English-speaking news broadcaster from posting photos, videos and news until after Donald Trump's inauguration.

It pulled the Kremlin-backed outlet, formerly known as Russia Today, from its social network on Thursday evening.

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It was handed a 72-hour suspension but Facebook denied that the block had anything to do with President-elect Donald Trump's big day.

RT claimed it had received a copyright complaint about a video stream of Barack Obama's press conference earlier this week.

But it prompted a .

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Facebook said they re-instated RT on Thursday evening.

Russia Today said: "We were blocked while livestreaming Obama’s final press-conference. Such things happen because (for ex.) some other news media livestreams carry the same shots and feed, and Facebook considers this a copyright violation".

Facebook occasionally suspends accounts for copyright violation.

Although the incident was resolved, it could have repercussions amid tense diplomatic relationships between Putin and the outgoing US government.

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