Russia: YouTube threatened with blocking following suspension of RT channel in German

Published on : 09/29/2021 – 11:02

Moscow strikes back in the field of the media. The Russian telecoms gendarme Roskomnadzor threatened, Wednesday, September 29, to block YouTube on his territory, if the platform refused to lift the suspension of the German accounts of the public television channel RT (ex-Russia Today).

The telecommunications authority indicates that it has asked Google, the site’s parent company, “to lift as soon as possible the limits imposed on the YouTube channels RT DE and Der Fehlende Part”.

“The legislation provides for a total or partial suspension of access if the owner of a platform does not carry out a warning from Roskomnadzor,” she said.

The American Google’s video site blocked the RT DE and Der Fehlende Part accounts on Tuesday for violating the community’s internal rules by disseminating “false information” on the coronavirus and for wanting to bypass a download suspension .

“An act of aggression” for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

It is “an act of unprecedented information aggression on the part of YouTube”, reacted the Russian Foreign Ministry in a statement released on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday, accusing the German authorities of having “obviously encouraged, even insisted “on this decision.

“The objective of this aggression against the projects of the Russian holding company is obvious: to silence the sources of information not falling within a comfortable media framework” for the authorities in Germany, assures the Russian diplomacy which sees in it “the continuation of an information war against Russia “.

In this context, “the taking of symmetrical retaliatory measures against the German media in Russia (…) seems not only appropriate, but also necessary”.

RT, which also broadcasts in English, French and Spanish, is seen as part of the Kremlin’s international propaganda efforts.

YouTube blocked its accounts because RT DE wanted, via its channel Der Fehlende Part, to bypass a ban on broadcasting new videos for a week because of the dissemination of disinformation on Covid-19, according to German media.

According to RT, this suspension was to be lifted on Wednesday.

Russia has stepped up attacks against major social networks and digital platforms in recent months, accusing them of being in the pay of Western interests.

In particular, it forced Google and Apple to block a series of content in Russia related to the incarcerated opponent and pet peeve of the Kremlin, Alexeï Navalny.

With AFP