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YouTube blocks Russian media channels globally

Friday, 11 March 2022 10:28 PM [ Last Update: Friday, 11 March 2022 10:28 PM ]

Russia Today (RT) logo is seen on a smartphone in front of the displayed YouTube logo in this illustration picture taken on February 26, 2022. (Reuters photo)

YouTube, the US-owned video sharing platform, has taken down Russian channels over Russia's military actions in Ukraine, citing a policy barring content that denies, minimizes or trivializes violent events.

YouTube, which is owned by Alphabet Inc's Google, said Russia's military operation in Ukraine now fell under its violent events policy and violating material would be removed, Reuters reported.

YouTube declined to specify which and how many channels had been blocked globally, or whether they ever would be restored.

The blocking of the Russian outlets was in line with that policy, said YouTube spokesman Farshad Shadloo.

Earlier, the world's most-used streaming video service had blocked leading Russia state-backed channels Russia Today (RT) and Sputnik across Europe.

“Due to the ongoing war in Ukraine, we’re blocking YouTube channels connected to RT and Sputnik across Europe, effective immediately,” Google Europe tweeted last week.

Russian state media have denounced restrictions on them as unjustified censorship.

"The blocking by YouTube is nothing but a new turn of an atrocious attack on one of the fundamental principles of a democratic society - that is freedom of the press," Sputnik said in a statement on Friday.

YouTube is a subsidiary company of the Google/Alphabet company based in Mountain View, California.

The company's actions follow that of Facebook, which on Monday said it will restrict access to television network RT and news agency Sputnik on its platforms across the European Union.

Twitter Inc has also said that it would label tweets containing contents from the Russian state-controlled media and reduce their visibility.

Russia under Putin is fighting against American imperialism: Journalist

Putin has taken on the role of an anti-imperialist power, placing it at odds with the United States, the sole imperial power seeking global hegemony, according to Patrick Lawrence.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 24 ordered a “special military operation” in Ukraine’s Donbas region. Putin said his country was defending Russian-speaking communities through the "demilitarisation and de-Nazification" of Ukraine so that their neighbor became neutral and no longer threatened Russia.

US President Joe Biden, however, called the Russian action an "unprovoked and unjustified attack," and the mainstream American media described it as the biggest assault on a European state since World War Two attack by Russia.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk