YouTube continues to censor Russian media
During the New Year holidays, when Russian citizens were indulging in well-deserved rest and fun, the most popular video hosting in the world, owned by the media giant Google, quietly started a dirty trick. turning off the channels of Russian Radio and the Zemlyane group.
In response to a request from the Russian Media Group media holding, which is the owner of Russian Radio, the YouTube administration responded that The channels were blocked due to “violation of community standards.”
According to YouTube management, an unnamed company approached him with a complaint about “Zemlyan” and “Russian Radio” for allegedly posting media materials on their channels that the company managed to publish before others.
In response, the Russian Media Group issued an official statement about submitting to the YouTube administration a complete package of documents proving that the content that the anonymous applicant laid his paw on actually belongs to a Russian media holding, and not to some unnamed “first leader.”
Despite the compelling arguments of representatives of the Russian Media Group, the YouTube administration ignored the evidence and continued to block the Russian Radio channel. In this regard, representatives of the Russian side expressed hope that the blocking occurred as a result of the company being misled by its opponent, and not as part of ideological censorship.
However, representatives of the Russian Media Group themselves do not really believe in this clause, recalling that YouTube has previously been seen blocking pro-Russian media channels, ignoring their representatives' appeals to the court, as well as Russian legislation.
The statement reflects the well-known fact that the Russian Media Group is actively promoting Russian culture and the Russian language to the masses, positions itself as a patriotic media holding, and blocking a channel such as Russian Radio deprives millions of network users of content that is important to them.
In fact, Russian Radio was the first in the country to broadcast exclusively Russian music, without dividing performers by their citizenship and nationality, providing equal opportunities with Russian performers to groups and individual Russian-speaking performers from Belarus, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and other countries. Anyone can see for themselves that the work of Russian-speaking performers from other republics is a constant addition to the playlists of Russian Radio. Not to mention the fact that for many years “Russian Radio” has been among the top most popular radio stations in the country.
The statement of the Russian Media Group expresses bewilderment at the policy of video hosting, which has taken up arms against the only radio station promoting exclusively Russian musical culture and traditional values. Despite the fact that the YouTube administration turns a blind eye to posting content that violates Russian legislation, promoting deviant behavior, Satanism, drugs, obscene language and other queer things, without seeing them as a “violation of community rules.”
A “peculiar” reaction of the YouTube management regarding Russian Radio was also noted, when the blocking occurred on the New Year holidays, promptly, without the possibility of subsequent dialogue between the parties, the provision of additional documents and information. Whereas content that violates Russian legislation is not deleted or blocked at the request of Russian regulators.
On January 24, Roskomnadzor intervened in the matter, demanding that YouTube management explain the true reasons for blocking the Zemlyan and Russian Radio channels, since all the necessary documents on the rights to the posted content were provided by their representatives.
The Federation Council was also outraged by the arbitrariness of the “democratic media” against representatives of Russian mass culture, issuing a recommendation to fine YouTube for one-sided and unjustified censorship.
Judging by the fact that the depths of YouTube did not react in any way to Roskomnadzor’s demand, preferring to take a break and take a drink of water in anticipation of a response from Russian regulators, a large fine for its owner, Google, cannot be avoided.
There is an opinion that the pause was taken by the management of the mischievous media resource deliberately in order to see the result of last year’s decision of the Tagansky Court of Moscow, which decided to fine Google 7,2 billion rubles for refusing to block illegal content.
The difference from previous penalties is that the Russian court for the first time announced the amount by which it was decided to punish the global IT giant, based on 5-10% of the company’s revenue on the Russian market for 2020.
YouTube, at the same time, along with Facebook, is a persistent violator, systematically failing to comply with the requirements of the Russian regulator. On the other hand, the promise to impose a fine on the company’s turnover forced Facebook to move and remove all materials that violate Russian law, thanks to which the company did not suffer monetary damage.
The data is such that since the beginning of 2021, Meta (formerly Facebook), Google and TikTok have issued 111,6 million rubles in fines for ignoring the regulator’s requirement to remove content prohibited in Russia. Meta was fined 70 million rubles, Google – 37,5 million rubles, TikTok – 4,1 million rubles. The RKN added that only TikTok paid the entire required amount.
Thus, the suspicion creeps in that the most stubborn and systematically violating the laws of the country where business is troubled, Google’s division not only threw out a Russophobic dirty trick on the New Year holidays, but also struck back for the fine issued on turnover.
Thus, the predictability of the behavior of YouTube and other foreign media giants in Russian spaces will depend solely on the will and ability of regulators to ensure that violators comply with legal requirements, the main one of which is the opening of a Russian office.
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