war in Ukraine
Youtube restricts Russian state broadcaster RT
The logo of Russia’s state TV channel RT can be seen in the window of the company’s office. Photo: Pavel Golovkin/AP/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
On Russian state television, the war of aggression against Ukraine is justified with false information. Youtube now restricts one of these broadcasters on its platform.
After Russia’s attack on Ukraine and the associated propaganda war, YouTube noticeably restricted several Russian state media on the video platform.
“We are pausing monetization of a number of channels on YouTube, including several Russian channels related to recent sanctions,” a spokesman for the service said on Saturday.
The restrictions primarily affect the Russian foreign television program RT, which was called “Russia Today” until 2009 and is classified in the West as the Russian government’s propaganda channel. RT is accused, among other things, of targeted disinformation such as the dissemination of conspiracy theories and justifying the war of aggression against Ukraine.
Response to government request
YouTube will significantly limit the recommendations for these channels, said the YouTube spokesman. «In response to a government request, we have restricted access to RT and a number of other channels in Ukraine. We will continue to monitor the new developments and may take further action.”
In Germany, YouTube had previously taken action against the German offshoot of RT in the context of false information about the corona pandemic. The German-language channel RT DE was deleted in September for violating community guidelines.
With the current measures, all RT channels worldwide are being cut off from YouTube revenue. “Our teams are also working to quickly remove content that violates our policies,” a spokesman said. In the past few days, hundreds of channels and thousands of videos have been removed, including a number of channels for coordinated fraudulent practices.
YouTube will continue to actively display authoritative news content in search results for searches related to Russia and Ukraine, including via YouTube’s Top News shelf.