The video platform YouTube has blocked the channel of the Russian Chamber of Deputies. Russian politicians are now threatening parent company Google with retaliatory measures.
Russia accuses the US video platform YouTube of blocking the channel of the Russian House of Representatives, Duma-TV. Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin and Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova announced retaliatory measures on Saturday. Youtube and possibly also its parent company Google are threatened with a ban in Russia.
Volodin said in the Telegram messenger service that the blocking of Duma TV violated the “rights of the Russians”. He accused Washington of seeking “a monopoly on the dissemination of information.”
“We cannot allow that,” added the Duma chairman. Zakharova explained on Telegram that YouTube had “sealed its own fate” with the blockade. She called for YouTube content to be “rapidly” transferred to Russian video platforms.
Russian media regulator demands immediate unblocking of the channel
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 supervisory authority Roskomnadzor called on YouTube’s parent company Google to “immediately” reverse the blocking of Duma-TV.
The Russian authorities have repeatedly accused YouTube of blocking channels of Russian media and officials since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine. On Thursday, Roskomnadzor accused YouTube of spreading false news about the Russian military operation in Ukraine 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.
