YouTube is expanding its blockade of Russian state-sponsored media outlets.
YouTube says the impending crackdown will cover “YouTube channels associated with Russian state-funded media globally," effective immediately. "We expect our systems to take time to ramp up,” the Google-owned platform said on Twitter, though RT, TASS, and Sputnik News have already been removed from YouTube on our end.
YouTube signaled that the Russian state media channels have violated its terms by churning out misinformation about the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine. “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,” YouTube wrote.
Last week, YouTube blocked access to RT and Sputnik News, but only for users in Europe. The platform did so after the European Union introduced a social media ban against the “Kremlin’s media machine" for spreading propaganda justifying the war in Ukraine.
Last week, YouTube also decided to pause all ad monetization from the Russian state-funded media channels across the globe. But on Friday, the site took things up a notch and suspended all YouTube ads in Russia in an apparent marketing boycott, which will prevent ad dollars from flowing to Russian video creators. “We’ve now extended this to all of the ways to monetize on our platform in Russia,” YouTube added.
The crackdown occurs as many of the leading companies across the world, including Apple, Microsoft, and Intel, have stopped sales to the Russian market, citing Russia's attacks. However, YouTube’s decision to block all Russian state-funded media will likely face retaliation from the country’s government.
On Friday, Russian regulator Roskomnadzor announced it was going to restrict access to Instagram for permitting users to post calls for violence against Russian troops invading Ukraine. A week ago, Russia also began blocking access to Facebook and Twitter, which had been offering the Russian people independent news sources about the war in Ukraine.