YouTube on Saturday banned Russian state-run media outlet RT and other Russian channels from receiving money for ads running alongside their videos, a move similar to Facebook’s after the Ukraine invasion.
Quoting “extraordinary circumstances” YouTube said it was “stopping the ability of several channels to monetize on YouTube, including several Russian channels affiliated with recent sanctionsLike those in the European Union. Ad placement is largely controlled by YouTube.
The European Union on Wednesday announced sanctions on people like Margarita Simonyan, whom it described as the editor-in-chief of RT and “a central figure” of Russian propaganda.
Videos from affected channels will also appear less frequently in recommendations, YouTube spokesman Farshad Shadloo said. He added that RT and several other channels would no longer be accessible in Ukraine due to a request from the Ukrainian government.
Ukraine’s Digital Transformation Minister Mykhailo Fedorov tweeted on Saturday that he contacted YouTube”to block Russian propaganda channelssuch as Russia 24, TASS, RIA Novosti”.
RT y Simonyan they did not respond to requests for comment. YouTube declined to name the other channels it had restricted.
For years, lawmakers and some users have called on YouTube, owned by Alphabet Inc’s Google (GOOGL.O), to take more action against channels linked to the Russian government, fearing they spread misinformation and shouldn’t benefit from it.
Russia received between $7 million and $32 million during the two-year period ending December 2018 from ads on 26 YouTube channels he backeddigital researcher Omelas told Reuters at the time.
YouTube has previously said it doesn’t treat state-funded media channels that comply with its rules any differently than other channels when it comes to sharing ad revenue.
Meta Platforms Inc (FB.O), which owns Facebook, on Friday banned Russian state media from running ads or generating revenue from ads on its services anywhere in the world.
Twitter and Facebook also impose sanctions
YouTube was not the only company to take action against Russia. Facebook (Meta) has banned all Russian state media from advertising on its platform, a Facebook official said. In addition, Twitter took a measure in the same direction.
Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebook’s head of security policy, said Russian state media is now banned from running ads. or monetize content on their sites.
It happens that the social network has become in recent days one of the main ways in which Russians express their discontent with Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine. Some of the protests in Russian cities that ended with dozens of people arrested have also been called through Facebook.
Twitter, for its part, has temporarily halted ads in Ukraine and Russia, one of several steps the company is taking to highlight safety information and minimize risks. “Risks associated with the conflict in Ukraine”.
“We are temporarily pausing ads in Ukraine and Russia to ensure that critical public safety information is elevated and is not detracted from by ads,” the company said in an update that was also shared in Ukrainian.
Specialized sites detected that Russia already blocks several internet providers so that users they cannot access.