YouTube plans to block Russia-backed RT and Sputnik in the European Union and the UK, following similar bans by Meta and TikTok, citing the invasion of Ukraine
Russia24 for all YouTube users in Russia and worldwide. We have to stop this evil machine! @pewjournalism : In today's news: - YouTube blocks Kremlin-backed media outlets RT and Sputnik in Europe - Insider and Axel Springer invest in new podcast company Spooler - Twitter to label tweets linking to Russian state-affiliated media & more: https://www.pewresearch.org/ ... Seth Miller / @wandrme : The half-assedness of only blocking it in Europe is most unfortunate. Propaganda is propaganda, regardless of where it is viewed. https://twitter.com/... @slpng_giants : Keep in mind that 1) the EU was already working on ways to ban both outlets; 2) @meta and @Microsoft already announced this same thing yesterday and 3) it's only for Europe. They should receive no thanks or credit for this move. It's still a half measure & it was inevitable. https://t.co/XcqFTn0GoE See also Mediagazer
PoliticoMark Scott
Context & Ripple Effects
YouTube's move followed coordinated European access restrictions by Meta and TikTok, while the EU was reportedly pursuing its own ban on the two outlets. It also came after Russia had threatened to block YouTube over its earlier removal of RT's German-language channels.
The decision turned a prior bilateral platform dispute into a broader wartime distribution response. Subsequent coverage shows YouTube expanded the restriction globally, making the European and UK action an early stage of a wider policy shift.
First-order effects
RT and Sputnik lose YouTube distribution in the EU and UK, while YouTube assumes responsibility for enforcing a geographic block tied to the invasion of Ukraine.
Meta and TikTok's parallel restrictions leave the two Russian state-backed outlets with reduced reach across several major social-video and social-network platforms in Europe.
Second-order effects
Twitter's planned labels for links to Russian state-affiliated media establish a less restrictive response alongside platform-level blocking, creating divergent moderation approaches for the same material.
Russia's earlier threat over RT's German-language channels signals that YouTube's expanded enforcement raises the stakes for platform access and state pressure.
Third-order effects
YouTube's later global expansion suggests that emergency regional restrictions can become network-wide distribution rules when platforms classify state-backed media as a cross-border policy issue.
The pattern shifts decisions about the reach of state media toward a small group of platforms responding to government and EU requests, rather than leaving access solely to national broadcasters and audiences.
The trend: Major platforms are moving from labeling or country-specific moderation of state-backed media toward coordinated restrictions that can expand across markets.
Due to the ongoing war in Ukraine, we're blocking YouTube channels connected to RT and Sputnik across Europe, effective immediately. It'll take time for our systems to fully ramp up. Our teams continue to monitor the situation around the clock to take swift action.
As someone who studies misinformation, the past week has been a masterclass in how positive actors with a strong information operation and tech platforms being (somewhat) sensible can create an environment in which misinformation struggles to take hold. A 🧵.
Meta is stepping up to shut down Russian lies. When will @YouTube? We are calling on @Google to deplatform Russian state media in the strongest possible terms. @susanwojcicki @sundarpichai
Interesting to find out that during every radicalized election, every genocide, every riot around the world over the last 10 years, huge tech platforms could have swiftly identified disinformation and malicious propaganda and paused their distribution of it, but they didn't. http…
YouTube has geoblocked RT from viewers in the UK, seemingly as part of a Europe-wide ban prompted by EU demands. Which means RT is currently on British TV screens (for now, pending Ofcom) but not on the main online streaming video platform. https://twitter.com/...
I always wondered how these platforms could all drive off ISIS ten years ago and yet every other bad community since was uncontainable. https://twitter.com/...
But why have you chosen not to block YouTube channels connected to the Chinese Communist Party? Are European victims more valuable to you than Chinese victims? https://twitter.com/...
TECH PLATFORMS: They're not totally beefing it! They deserve credit for blocking RT and Sputnik in Europe. But not blocking long-time spreaders of misinformation globally when the government that controls them is actively trying to lie about their war atrocities is... NUTS. 5/8
in large part bc it was right wing propaganda that either served their interests (virality) or matched their world view (people severely misapprehend the world view of a particular generation of tech leaders) https://twitter.com/...
My concern with this is that it betrays a lack of confidence. None of Russia's propaganda or bribery could overcome the effect Putin's deranged speech or the heroism of Ukrainians had on European public opinion. Better to ridicule Russian lies, not censor them. https://twitter.co…
In Russia misinformation and censorship are reaching a peak, and comparable to the worst dictatorships. Media closed, critics persecuted, hugely repressive legislation in the making. https://twitter.com/...
Well when they saw no one would hold them to task to protect the targets? Why would they and they now have the benefit or the racist memory hole https://twitter.com/...
RT has been the most successful news channel on @youtube for years. Google has fed Russian propaganda to millions upon millions of people & directly profited from enabling the Kremlin to fulfil its foreign policy goals. https://twitter.com/...
Russia blindfolds Russian people and kills Ukrainian children. @YouTube, we ask you to act: block the main propaganda channel — Russia24 for all YouTube users in Russia and worldwide. We have to stop this evil machine!
In today's news: - YouTube blocks Kremlin-backed media outlets RT and Sputnik in Europe - Insider and Axel Springer invest in new podcast company Spooler - Twitter to label tweets linking to Russian state-affiliated media & more: https://www.pewresearch.org/ ...
The half-assedness of only blocking it in Europe is most unfortunate. Propaganda is propaganda, regardless of where it is viewed. https://twitter.com/...
Zelenskyy sends letter to @YouTube's CEO Susan Wojcicki and @Google's Sundar Pichai to block or remove Russian TV and other services from their platforms https://twitter.com/...
Russian authorities have now demanded that YouTube and TikTok lift restrictions on RT and Sputnik. Twitter and Facebook are already restricted inside Russia. YouTube could be next. https://rkn.gov.ru/...