fbpx

Google blocks YouTube channel of Russia’s Duma

The US tech giant, which owns YouTube, said it was committed to compliance with ‘all applicable sanctions and trade compliance laws’.

09 April 2022

Google has blocked the YouTube channel of the Duma – Russia’s lower house of parliament – following the latest US sanctions on Moscow over the invasion of Ukraine.

In a statement, the US tech giant – which owns YouTube – said it was committed to compliance with “all applicable sanctions and trade compliance laws”.

The move drew an angry response from the Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin, who accused the United States of trying to achieve a “monopoly of information”.

“It is another proof of Washington’s violation of rights and freedoms,” he was quoted as saying by the Russian news agency Tass.

“Washington is ignoring all the principles of democracy to make sure that all platforms, including YouTube, present only the US position. The United States seeks a monopoly on information but we can’t have that.”

A spokesman for Google said: “Google is committed to compliance with all applicable sanctions and trade compliance laws.

“If we find that an account violates our terms of service, we take appropriate action. Our teams are closely monitoring the situation for any updates and changes.”

The move comes after YouTube last month removed a Russian prank channel which ran clips of hoax calls, purportedly from Ukrainian ministers, to UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace and Home Secretary Priti Patel.

More from Perspective

Get a free copy of our print edition

News

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Fill out this field
Fill out this field
Please enter a valid email address.
You need to agree with the terms to proceed

Your email address will not be published. The views expressed in the comments below are not those of Perspective. We encourage healthy debate, but racist, misogynistic, homophobic and other types of hateful comments will not be published.