YouTube said it would begin completely blocking channels funded by the Russian government after it blocked channels such as Russia’s best RT and Sputnik in Europe earlier this month. The company also announced that it would remove misrepresented content about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that denied, downplayed or downplayed “documented violence.”
At the time of writing, visitors are still able to access live programming from RT, but YouTube’s interface states that the channel is “funded in whole or in part by the Russian government.” According to a tweet from the YouTube Insider account, the change should take effect immediately, but the company said it expects its systems to take some time for it to take effect.
1/ Our Community Guidelines prohibit content denying, minimizing or trivializing well-documented violent events. We are now removing content about Russia’s invasion in Ukraine that violates this policy. https://t.co/TrTnOXtOTU
— YouTubeInsider (@YouTubeInsider) March 11, 2022
Several platforms, including YouTube, have blocked European users from accessing content produced by Russian state media outlets. The Russian government has since responded to the policies of these big tech companies, including blocking or restricting access to sites such as Facebook or Twitter. Today, it announced that it will ban Instagram in the country starting March 14.
While the lack of access to content from global channels like RT and Sputnik is an escalation in YouTube’s latest uncooperative behavior, Google has long made it impossible for these channels to monetize their videos. In late February, the company said Russia’s state media agency would not allow ads on its videos. Last week, Google went a step further, suspending all related ad sales in the Russian regional market.