Youtube, in a tweet on Friday, has announced to block Russian YouTube channels that spread misinformation regarding the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
The google-owned video-sharing platform has said that it will completely block YouTube channels that are funded by the Russian Government. Russian owned channels like RT and Sputnik were already blocked in Europe earlier this month. The company has also said that they would be taking down any content about the Russian invasion of Ukraine that refutes, minimizes, or trivializes “well-documented violent events.”
YouTube insider posted a tweet about the development which said that the change is supposed to be effective immediately. But it adds that the company might take some time to roll it out.
2/ In line with that, we are also now blocking access to YouTube channels associated with Russian state-funded media globally, expanding from across Europe. This change is effective immediately, and we expect our systems to take time to ramp up.
— YouTubeInsider (@YouTubeInsider) March 11, 2022
Platforms like YouTube had blocked access to Russian state media outlets for European users. The Putin regime responded to tech companies by blocking or limiting their access inside Russia. It also announced the ban of Instagram in Russia on March 14.
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Blocking access to content from Russian state media is a big step from YouTube, Google had already stopped monetizing Russian videos. In February, the company said that media channels from Russia would not be allowed to run advertisements over their content. Google also had suspended its sales in Russia last week.
