This Western blockade of Russian propaganda drives Putin’s politics up the wall!
After the Duma’s YouTube channel (Duma-TV) was blocked, several politicians threatened retaliation against the US video platform.
Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin told Telegram on Saturday that the blocking of Duma TV violated the “rights of Russians”. He accused Washington of seeking “a monopoly on the dissemination of information.” “We cannot allow that,” Volodin added.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said YouTube “sealed its own fate” with the blockade. She called for YouTube content to be “rapidly” transferred to Russian video platforms.
Maria Zakharova is a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign MinistryPhoto: –/dpa
YouTube’s parent company Google confirmed the blocking of Duma-TV on the video platform. The decision was made because of the US sanctions imposed on Russia.
A company spokesman said: “Google is committed to complying with all applicable sanctions and trade laws. If an account violates our Terms of Service, we will take appropriate action.”
According to Moscow, Duma-TV has more than 145,000 subscribers. The channel broadcasts excerpts from parliamentary debates and interviews with Russian MPs. As of Saturday morning, he was no longer accessible on YouTube, according to reports from AFP journalists. The Russian media regulator Roskomnadzor asked Google to “immediately” reverse the blocking of Duma-TV.
Since the beginning of the military operation in Ukraine, the Russian authorities have repeatedly accused YouTube of blocking channels of Russian media and officials. On Thursday, Roskomnadzor accused YouTube of spreading false news about the Russian military operation in the neighboring country and announced that it would ban Google from advertising its services in the country.
The media supervisory authority had already accused Google and YouTube of “terrorist activities” in March, thus taking the first step towards a ban. Russia had previously blocked access to the country’s popular online networks Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Most of the last independent media in Russia are now also blocked.
