YouTube removes over 9,000 channels regarding the Ukraine war
YouTube removed more than 70,000 YouTube videos and 9,000 YouTube channels that were related to the war with Ukraine. This was due to YouTube’s violation of content guidelines.
It is extremely popular in Russia where it hosts content from opposition figures like Alexei Navalny. YouTube is also able to function in Russia, despite the fact that it has been restricted from publishing content that violates its major violent events policy.
YouTube has removed channels associated with Vladimir Solovyov, a pro-Kremlin journalist, since February’s conflict. Temporarily, YouTube has also banned channels associated with Russia’s Ministries of Defence and Foreign Affairs from uploading videos over the past months. They were describing war as a “liberation operation”.
Neal Mohan is YouTube’s chief product officer. He stated that the policy covers major violent events, such as denial of major events. This includes everything from Sandy Hook to the Holocaust. Of course, what is happening in Ukraine constitutes a major violent incident. We have used this policy to take unprecedented actions.”
YouTube didn’t provide any breakdown of taken-down content or channels, but Mohan stated that much of it was Kremlin narratives regarding the invasion.
He said that although he didn’t know the exact numbers, he could imagine a lot of it coming from the Russian government or Russian actors for the Russian government.
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