Russia has demanded that Alphabet Inc.’s Google should restore access to its state-owned channels including RBC, TV Zvezda and Sputnik on the YouTube platform within the Ukrainian territory. On Saturday, Google announced that it was banning Russia’s media channels from monetizing content with advertisements on its platforms; following the invasion of Ukraine.
The Russian media regulator Roskomnadzor urged Alphabet Inc. to lift all restrictions imposed on the media channels owned and sponsored by Russia. It also accused U.S. tech companies of unlawful censorship of its media. The Russian government said that it was partially restricting access to Facebook as a countermeasure and called it “censorship” of its state media.
The media giant suspended access to the Russian channels following a request from the Ukrainian government, which the Vice Prime minister confirmed by posting a tweet, on Saturday. Google added that it was banning state-owned media outlets from selling ads on their websites, apps and YouTube videos.
Google also announced that it would block Russian media from buying advertisements through Google Tools and other Google services. The recommendations to these channels will also be limited on YouTube. The Russian state-TV network app RT was also removed from the Google Play Store.
Meta Platforms, parent company of Facebook and Instagram recently blocked Russian media channels from selling advertisements on Facebook globally and generating revenue on Facebook.
Earlier, many Western countries had imposed a number of economic sanctions against Russia in light of the recent invasion of Ukraine. The EU confirmed that it would be banning RT within the European Union. The European Commission President said that these channels would no longer be able to spread false propaganda to justify the war.
The above actions against Russia are a consequence of the number of air strikes in the cities of Ukraine and bombings that have forced a large number of people to migrate to neighboring countries. However, Russia has claimed that their target was the military bases and that they would not threaten the lives of civilians in the country.
