YouTube announced on Friday that it had begun blocking access globally to channels associated with Russian state-funded media, citing a policy barring content that denies, minimizes or trivializes well-documented violent events.
The video platform had previously blocked the channels, specifically those of Russia Today and Sputnik, across Europe.
1/ Our Community Guidelines prohibit content denying, minimizing or trivializing well-documented violent events. We are now removing content about Russia’s invasion in Ukraine that violates this policy. https://t.co/TrTnOXtOTU
— YouTubeInsider (@YouTubeInsider) March 11, 2022
YouTube announced the move in a Twitter post and said that while the change was effective immediately, “we expect our systems to take time to ramp up”.
The platform, which is owned by Google, said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine now fell under its violent events policy and violating material would be removed.
A YouTube spokesman, Farshad Shadloo, said the blocking of the Russian outlets was in line with that policy.
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Reports are coming in of air raid sirens sounding across Ukraine now, including in the capital Kyiv, Cherkasy, Kharkiv, Lviv in western Ukraine, and in the north-eastern Sumy region.
Air raid sirens again sounding out in Lviv, western Ukraine pic.twitter.com/AzO4p7AXzP
— Deborah Haynes (@haynesdeborah) March 12, 2022
Sounds of a major battle woke us up in Mykolaiv this sunny Saturday morning. Major incoming and outgoing artillery fire. Trying to find out more.
— Michael Schwirtz (@mschwirtz) March 12, 2022
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