YouTube blocks two Russian propaganda channels: reason for the block and fierce reaction from the Russian side

Russia has issued a stream of threats to block YouTube and German media on its territory.

The video hosting service YouTube has blocked two Russian propaganda channels aimed at a German audience. One of them ranked fourth among German channels on the platform.

We explain the details of the block and how the Russian side has reacted to the conflict.

Block without possibility of restoration

On September 29, YouTube blocked without the right to restore the accounts of two German-language projects of the Russian propaganda outlet RT: RT DE and DFP. 

The video hosting service explained that the channels violated its policy on disinformation about the coronavirus. "YouTube has always had clear guidelines that determine what is permitted on the platform," the company said.

First, the German-language channel RT DE received a warning for uploading content that violated YouTube's policy on COVID-19 disinformation. This led to a one-week suspension of its right to post content on the platform.

After this, the Russian broadcaster tried to use the DFP channel to get around the upload ban. As a result, both channels were blocked for violating YouTube's terms of use, without the right to restoration.

Reaction from the channel and Roskomnadzor

RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan called the blocking of the channels "a real media war declared by the German state against the Russian state". She said she expects the Russian authorities to urgently ban Deutsche Welle in Russia and close the ARD and ZDF correspondent offices.

The Russian Foreign Ministry called the blocking "unprecedented information aggression" by YouTube, carried out "with obvious connivance, if not at the insistence of the German side".

According to the Russian ministry, the blocking of the channels is an "obvious manifestation of censorship and suppression of freedom of expression".

"There is no doubt that such unlawful actions against a media project that ranks fourth in popularity among German-language media in the News and Politics category were taken by the YouTube hosting service with the open and tacit support of the German authorities and local media, which, without shame and almost openly, subjected correspondents of Russian broadcasters to years of persecution," the Russian ministry said.

The Russian Foreign Ministry considers it "not only appropriate but necessary" to take symmetrical measures against German media in Russia, which have been "repeatedly caught participating in interference in the internal affairs of our country".

The ministry will appeal to the competent Russian agencies with a proposal to develop and adopt measures against YouTube hosting and German media.

Meanwhile, Roskomnadzor, the authoritarian Russian internet censorship regulator, threatened Google with a full block of the video hosting service on Russian territory and a fine of 1 million rubles if the blocked channels are not restored.

The Roskomnadzor statement says the agency sent Google a letter "demanding that all restrictions on the YouTube channels RT DE and DFP, owned by the pro-Kremlin Russia Today, be lifted as soon as possible.

In the Roskomnadzor letter, it is said that Google administration's actions allegedly "violate the key principles of free dissemination of information and unhindered access to it and constitute an act of censorship against Russian media".

"If the resource owner fails to comply with the Roskomnadzor warning, the legislation provides for measures to fully or partially restrict access," the regulator said.