Youtube removed over 9,000 channels that spread fake news about the war/Getty Images
YouTube has blocked more than 9,000 channels that spread fake news about the war in Ukraine. In particular, there it was called the “liberation mission”.
Yes, the platform is trying to deal with violations of the rules for the content of videos. Interestingly, unlike Facebook and Instagram, YouTube was not banned in Russia.
9 thousand channels that spread fake news about the war were blocked
YouTube removed more than 70,000 videos and 9,000 channels related to the war in Ukraine due to content violations. In some videos, a full-scale Russian military invasion of another sovereign state was called a “liberation mission”.
The platform is very popular in Russia. Despite the fact that on YouTube you can see the video from the opposition, it has not yet been blocked. In addition, it was not banned because of the fight against pro-Kremlin content that violates the rules of the community, in particular the policy that prohibits denying or downplaying Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Since February 24, the platform has removed a number of Russian channels, in particular the channel of pro-Kremlin journalist Vladimir Solovyov. They also temporarily blocked pages linked to the Russian ministries of defense and foreign affairs because they described the war as a “liberation mission.”
We have a policy on major violent events. In particular, it concerns the denial of global violent events: from the Holocaust to Sandy Hooke. And, of course, what is happening in Ukraine is a big violent event. And so we used this policy to take unprecedented action,” said YouTube Product Director Neil Mohan.
According to him, in Ukraine alone, news content about the war on YouTube has received more than 40 million views.
“The first and perhaps the most important responsibility is to make sure that people who are looking for news about it can get accurate , high-quality and truthful information on YouTube.The consumption of authoritative channels on our platform has increased significantly, of course, in Ukraine and in Ukraine, the countries that surround it – Poland, as well as in Russia itself,” the official added.
YouTube wants the Russians to learn the truth about the war without censorship
It is not yet known which channels the platform has blocked. However, Mohan noted that most of them were spreading the Kremlin's position on the invasion of Ukraine.
“I do not have specific data, but you can imagine that many of them are narratives coming from the Russian government or Russian actors on behalf of the Russian government,” said YouTube's product director.
In total, YouTube has about 90 million users in Russia. The platform responded to the invasion by banning Russian bloggers from earning ad revenue. The decision sparked protests from prominent opposition figure Alexei Navalny, who said that well-targeted ads help counter Kremlin propaganda.
“YouTube remains the largest video-sharing site in Russia itself. Therefore, this is the place where Russian citizens can receive information about the war without censorship, including from many reputable channels to which we all have access outside the country,” he added. Mohan.
Last week, Russian Minister of Digital Development Maksut Shadayev said that the country would not block YouTube despite content disputes, because the ban on Russia's most popular social network would affect users.
Interesting ! YouTube has also banned channels associated with Russian state media, such as Russia Today and Sputnik. Facebook and Instagram and Twitter are banned in Russia.
