YouTube blocked three Ukrainian channels linked to Putin ally
Google’s YouTube blocked from broadcasting three Ukrainian television channels linked to an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to an announcement by the Ukrainian government, who were the ones requesting from YouTube to have the channels taken down.
The YouTube channels of ZiK, 112 Ukraine and NewsOne did not play their content and instead showed a blank screen with a message saying the channel was not available.
“We are pleased such an influential American company is willing to cooperate when it concerns issues of Ukrainian national security and Russian disinformation,” Ukraine’s embassy to Washington said in a tweet.
Backed by the United States, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s government blocked the three channels from airing on Ukrainian television in February, accusing them of being instruments of Russian propaganda and partly financed by Russia. The government also asked YouTube to shut down the channels on its platform.
Culture Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko on Saturday thanked YouTube for the ban, calling the channels “part of Russia’s propaganda war against Ukraine.”
The move comes after weeks of tensions between Kyiv and Moscow over the conflict in eastern Ukraine and a Russian troop buildup on Ukraine’s borders that had alarmed Ukraine’s Western backers and the NATO military alliance.
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