The Russia-Ukraine crisis continues to affect the whole world. Many companies are reacting to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. One of them came from YouTube. YouTube, which blocked Russian channels from monetizing content on their platform a few days ago, is taking steps for Russian news channels.
Company blocks Russian-backed media outlets and channels in Europe
Google-operated YouTube said on Tuesday it has blocked Russian state-sponsored media outlets and channels across Europe. Thus, YouTube and Russian news channels aim to prevent the lies spread to justify Russia’s war.
These steps of YouTube will take place in the European Union on Monday. It followed Meta, which restricted access to Russia Today (RT) and Sputnik on domain platforms. However, he has banned two channels on TikTok. Twitter said it would tag tweets containing Russian state-controlled media content and reduce their visibility.
Many countries called the platforms
Russia’s invasion of its neighbor Ukraine caused various news, images and videos to appear on the platforms. These shared contents trigger misinformation. Many European countries have called for platforms to prevent the spread of misinformation.
Leaders of countries such as Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia said in their call that platforms have become accessories of Russian aggression.
Online platforms have not done enough, despite significant efforts to address the Russian government’s unprecedented attack on truth. Russia’s disinformation has been tolerated on online platforms for years; they are now complicit in the Russian government’s murderous war of aggression against Ukraine and the free world.
However, various platforms such as Facebook and Twitter have been blocked or restricted in Russia. Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, made a statement on the subject. “The state-owned Russia Today, Sputnik and their subsidiaries can no longer spread lies to justify Putin’s war. We are developing tools to ban toxic and harmful disinformation in Europe.”
So what do you think about this issue? You can share your views with us in the comments section or on the SDN Forum.
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