Ukraine Russia Youtube - Unlike some other platforms, including Facebook and Instagram, YouTube is not closed in Russia. Photo: Lucy Nicholson/Reuters
YouTube has removed more than 70,000 videos and 9,000 channels related to the war in Ukraine for violating its content guidelines, including removing videos that referred to the invasion as a "liberation operation."
Ukraine Russia Youtube
The platform has become hugely popular in Russia and, unlike some of its American peers, has not been shut down despite hosting content from dissidents such as Alexei Navalny. YouTube has managed to operate in Russia despite cracking down on pro-Kremlin content that violates guidelines, including its Major Incidents of Violence policy, which prohibits denying or trivializing aggression.
Russia Takes Censorship To New Extremes, Stifling War Coverage
Since the conflict began in February, YouTube has removed channels including pro-Kremlin journalist Vladimir Solovyov. Channels linked to Russia's defense and foreign ministries have temporarily suspended video uploads in recent months after describing the war as a "liberation operation".
Neil Mohan, YouTube's chief product officer, said: "We have a major violent event policy that covers things like denying major violent events: from the Holocaust to Sandy Hook. What's happening in Ukraine is actually a major violent event. So we've used it politics to take unprecedented action.
In an interview with the Guardian, Mohan said that YouTube's news content on the conflict has received more than 40 million views in Ukraine alone.
"The first and probably most important responsibility is to ensure that people looking for information about this event can get accurate, high-quality and reliable information on YouTube," he said. "The consumption of authorized channels on our platform has increased significantly, not only in Ukraine of course, but also in neighboring countries within Ukraine, Poland and Russia itself."
Russia Ukraine Crisis: Youtube Blocks Russian State Funded Media Channels Globally
YouTube did not provide a breakdown of the content and the removed channels, but Mohan said much of it represented the Kremlin's narrative of the invasion. "I don't have exact numbers, but you can imagine that a lot of it is stories coming from the Russian government or Russian actors on behalf of the Russian government," he said.
YouTube has an estimated 90 million users in Russia, but it no longer allows ads on the platform in the country. Navalny protested the decision by YouTube's parent company, Google, which said targeted ads helped counter Kremlin propaganda.
"YouTube is still the largest video-sharing site operating in Russia itself," Mohan said. "So YouTube is a place where Russian citizens can get uncensored information about the war, many of the same authorized channels that we all have access to outside the country. We remain an important platform for Russian citizens themselves as this crisis continues to unfold.
Last week, Russian Digital Development Minister Maksut Shadaev said the country would not block YouTube, despite controversy over content that has resulted in the platform being fined in court for failing to remove banned videos.
Youtube Blocks Russian State Funded Media, Including Rt And Sputnik, Around The World
Shadaev pointed out that the blocking of Russia's most popular social media platform is affecting users. "We are not planning to shut down YouTube," the minister said. "Above all, we must clearly understand that when we limit something, our users do not suffer."
YouTube has banned channels linked to Russian state media worldwide, including Russia Today and Sputnik. Facebook and Instagram are banned in Russia and access to Twitter is restricted in response to the platform's ban on Russian state media. The Google-owned platform said the invasion of Ukraine falls under its policy on violent incidents and infringing material. should be removed
YouTube announced Friday that it has begun globally blocking access to channels associated with Russian state-funded media, citing a policy that bans content that denies, minimizes or downplays well-documented incidents of violence.
YouTube announced the move in a Twitter post, adding that while the change will take effect immediately, "we expect it will take time for our systems to get up and running".
Google Ordered Translators To Replace References To Ukraine “war”
Russia's invasion of Ukraine is now subject to its violent incidents policy and the Google-owned platform said it would remove infringing material.
YouTube spokesman Farshad Shadloo said the blocking of Russian stores was in line with that policy.
YouTube also said it will now remove content about Russia's invasion of Ukraine that violates its policy on material that "minimizes or downplays well-documented incidents of violence." The Kremlin calls the invasion a "special military operation" and not a war.
YouTube previously paused YouTube ads in Russia. Now it expands it to all avenues of monetization on Russia's platform.
Facebook, Google And Twitter Limit Russian Ads
The restrictions imposed on them by distributors, including Russian state media app stores and other social media services, are known as unfair censorship.
"YouTube's blocking is nothing more than a new twist in a vicious attack on press freedom, one of the fundamental principles of a democratic society," Sputnik said in a statement on Friday.
YouTube declined to say which and how many channels were blocked globally, or if they would ever be reinstated.
Workers across Google called on YouTube to take further punitive action against Russian channels, accusing the Ukrainian leadership and spreading false stories about civilian deaths during the war, according to three company employees.
Fact Check: Fake Images Show 'cnn' Reports On Ukraine That Never Happened
The move comes as Russia has taken an increasingly aggressive stance against US tech companies that have taken steps to crack down on Russian disinformation on their platforms.
Russia moved to block Instagram on Friday after its parent company, Meta, said it was allowing calls for violence against Vladimir Putin and Russian soldiers involved in the invasion of Ukraine to appear on the Ukrainian social media platform. The Russian government blocked access to Facebook last week. These blockades further limit access to outside information about the war for many Russians. Photographs of the vandalized Retroville shopping center in Kiev's Podilskyi district on March 21, 2022, after a Russian missile attack killed at least 8 people the night before.
Six days after Russian troops invaded Ukraine, the YouTube account of jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posted a new video.
As part of investigative journalism, the hosts of the video report that Russian Senator Valentina Matviyenko, an ally of President Vladimir Putin, has a multi-million dollar villa on the Italian coast. The video contrasts the lavish lifestyle of Matviyenko and her family with images of dead Russian soldiers and Russian artillery shelling civilian residential buildings in Ukraine. A voice calls the war "senseless" and "unthinkable". A slide at the end calls on Russians to go to the squares of their cities and protest on specific dates. In less than a week, the video had more than 4 million views.
Russia Demands Google Restore Access To Its Media Youtube Channels In Ukraine
For Russians, Navalny's YouTube channel is an important source of information that goes against the Kremlin's line. It has over 6.4 million subscribers and is managed by a group of his associates while in self-imposed exile in Lithuania. It is a thorn in the side of President Vladimir Putin and a strength for a country whose television news is dominated by the misleading narrative that Russia's invasion of Ukraine is really a peacekeeping exercise.
Despite this, YouTube has largely escaped the Kremlin's crackdown on US social media platforms since Russia invaded Ukraine about a month ago.
A Moscow court on Monday banned Instagram in Russia and named its parent company Meta an "extremist" organization. Earlier in March, Russia also blocked Twitter and Facebook, after the platforms imposed restrictions on Russian government-backed media. According to data from the market research company eMarketer, more than 50% of Russian Internet users used Instagram. The app was a particular site for activism: many Russian celebrities spoke out against the invasion of Ukraine in their Instagram stories, while Navalny's Instagram page published a statement criticizing the war and calling on Russians to protest.
But YouTube — Russia's most popular social media platform — used by more than 75% of the country's internet users, according to eMarketer — remains available despite a similar ban by the Kremlin, an even more popular outlet for opposition activists. - Funding of media organisations. On March 11, YouTube's parent company Google announced that it would block Russian state-backed media globally, including within Russia. This policy is an extension of the previous announcement to block these channels in the EU. "Our Community Guidelines prohibit content that denies, minimizes, or downplays well-documented incidents of violence, and we remove content about Russia's invasion of Ukraine that violates this policy," Google said in a statement. "Therefore, effective immediately, we will globally block YouTube channels associated with Russian state-funded media."
Youtube, Facebook, Tiktok Block Russian State Media Across Europe
The move reversed a situation that had existed for several years. YouTube always had the option of banning Russian state media, which would have deprived the Kremlin of its most effective tool for spreading disinformation in Russia and the rest of the world. But the platform faced a dilemma. Russia's government has repeatedly indicated that it will retaliate against the ban on Kremlin-funded media by completely banning YouTube in the country. It can save millions
Russia ukraine map, youtube ukraine russia, russia and ukraine news, ukraine vs russia, ukraine russia, ukraine russia news, russia ukraine conflict, russia and ukraine, russia ukraine conflict summary, ukraine and russia conflict, russia invaded ukraine, russia ukraine sanctions
0 Comments