Russia warns YouTube about anti-Russian ads
Russia has asked Alphabet Inc’s Google to stop publishing what it described as threats against Russian citizens on its YouTube video-sharing platform, a move that could herald a complete ban of the service on Russian soil.
Roskomnadzor said the ads on the platform called for the suspension of communication systems for railway networks in Russia and Belarus, and that their publication was evidence of the US company’s anti-Russian stance.
She added: “The actions of the YouTube administration are of a terrorist nature and threaten the life and health of Russian citizens.” We categorically oppose such advertising campaigns and demand that Google stop broadcasting anti-Russian videos as soon as possible.
The dispute is the latest in a series between Moscow and foreign technology companies over Ukraine. YouTube, which has banned state-funded Russian channels globally, is under intense pressure from telecom regulators and politicians in Russia.
The site attracted 300,000 new users in the two weeks after Russia launched what it calls a special disarmament operation.
VKontakte said its daily domestic audience grew by 8.7 percent to more than 50 million people on the day Instagram was banned in Russia.
Anton Gorelkin, a member of the Russian State Duma Committee on Information and Communications, directed the Russians to services that would help them transfer videos from YouTube to the local alternative, RuTube.
He said YouTube could face the same fate as Instagram if it continues to act as a weapon in the information war.
Meanwhile, Russian tech entrepreneurs said they are launching the photo-sharing app Rossgram in the local market to help fill the void left by Instagram.
In November, Gazprom Media launched Yappy as a local competitor to video sharing platform TikTok.
