After the German-language channel of the Russian state-backed broadcaster RT was deleted, Russia on Wednesday threatened to block Alphabet’s YouTube and said it was considering retaliation against the German media. YouTube said on Tuesday that RT’s channel violated its COVID-19 misinformation policy, and the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs called this an “unprecedented information aggression”.
Roskomnadzor, Russia’s national communications regulator, stated that it has sent a letter to Google and requested that the restrictions be lifted. It stated that if Russia fails to comply with the regulations, it may seek to partially or completely restrict access to YouTube. Google declined to comment on Wednesday.
The Kremlin said it may have to force YouTube to comply with Russian law, saying it may adopt a zero tolerance approach to violations. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters: “Of course there are signs that the laws of the Russian Federation have been broken and blatantly broken, because of course this involves censorship and obstruction of the media’s dissemination of information.”
The Russian Foreign Ministry said. The authorities have received “a proposal to develop and take retaliatory measures against the YouTube hosting service and the German media.” Christian Mihr, the executive director of German Reporters Without Borders (RSF), said that threats to take action against German journalists are “completely inappropriate”. In the past year, Moscow has increased its pressure on foreign technology companies, fined social media companies that failed to delete content that Russia considers illegal, and punitively slowed down Twitter.
Critics of the Kremlin say this pressure caused Google and Apple to remove an anti-government tactical voting app from their stores on the first day of parliamentary elections earlier this month. Berlin denies the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ allegations that YouTube’s decision was made with the explicit and tacit support of the German authorities and local media. “This is a decision made by YouTube in accordance with the rules created by YouTube. This is not a measure (taken) by the German government or other official organizations,” German government spokesperson Steffen Seibert told reporters.
News Source : Backtrack
