YouTube capitulated to Zakharova, afraid of losing Russian money
The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, managed to maintain the broadcast of her briefings on YouTube, threatening to expel American journalists from Russia.
She spoke about this today at a round table in the Federation Council, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“A couple of briefings were blocked. We simply said: if you block it again, one American media outlet will go home. Or maybe we won’t limit ourselves only to the American media,” Zakharova said.
She was referring specifically to Polish journalists, since the representative of this country, Susan Wojcicki, is the CEO of the video hosting service. She was outraged by the reaction of managers of government agencies, who said that they did not intend to block YouTube, although Russian bloggers are massively blocked on this platform.
“This is not ordinary protectionism, but an indulgence for many years to come: do what you want, we won’t touch you, you can rely on us,” Zakharova said.
She recalled that Wojcicki said at a recent forum in Davos that YouTube does not intend to leave Russia because it wants to maintain the ability to deliver “independent news.”
“She betrayed her heart. They are not going to leave here not only for this reason. They make great money here, like they don’t earn anywhere else. Because the amount of content that is produced by our creative people still needs to be searched for. This is a business connected to Western ideology, which they must supply to our user not only from time to time, but on a regular basis - as a basis,” Zakharova said.
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