Google’s YouTube said it is blocking the ability for Kremlin-controlled media outlets, including Russia Today (RT), to run ads on their channels, coming amid broad economic sanctions enacted by Western powers against Russia because of its sudden and violent attack on Ukraine.
On Saturday, YouTube said it “began pausing a number of Russian channels’ ability to monetize on YouTube, including RT. As always, it will take some time for our systems to fully ramp up and in the meantime, some users may see ads temporarily. We continue to monitor the situation closely.” In addition, Russian media organizations will not be able to buy ads on Google properties, including search and Gmail, according to the internet giant.
YouTube also is blocking access to certain content on RT’s YouTube channel in English and Russian from being accessible from within Ukraine, according to a report by the Russian network.
The moves by Google and YouTube come after the European Union on Feb. 23 announced sanctions on individuals in the Russian media apparatus, including RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan, whom the EU called “a central figure” of Russian propaganda.
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Russian media regulatory agency Roskomnadzor said in a statement Sunday that it sent a letter to the management of Google “with a demand to remove all restrictions imposed on Russian-language YouTube channels of Russian media as soon as possible: RBC, Zvezda and Sputnik, and also explain the reasons for their introduction.”
“The American internet services, including YouTube video hosting, are participating in the information confrontation, purposefully restricting Russian media, including those that are official Russian sources of information,” Roskomnadzor said in the statement, adding that “such actions violate the key principles of the free distribution of information and unhindered access to it by citizens.”
Separately, Meta, Facebook’s parent company, on Friday said it was banning Russian state media outlets from running ads and was continuing to add fact-checking labels to state-controlled media, despite the Russian government’s demands and its subsequent retaliation against Facebook by slowing down traffic to the social-media company’s services.
“We are now prohibiting Russian state media from running ads or monetizing on our platform anywhere in the world,” Nathaniel Gleicher, head of security policy at Meta, said in a statement. “We also continue to apply labels to additional Russian state media. These changes have already begun rolling out and will continue into the weekend.”
In addition, Twitter said it was “temporarily pausing advertisements in Ukraine and Russia to ensure critical public safety information is elevated and ads don’t detract from it.”
