Russian Authorities on Wednesday threatened to block YouTube after Russian state-backed broadcaster RT’s German-language channels were deleted a day earlier and said it was weighing possible retaliation against the German media.
Alphabet Inc.’s YouTube said on Tuesday that RT’s channels had breached its COVID-19 misinformation policy, a move Russia’s Foreign Ministry described as “unprecedented information aggression” in a statement late on Wednesday.
The ministry said Russian authorities had been approached with “a proposal to develop and take retaliatory measures against the YouTube hosting service and the German media.”
State communications regulator Roskomnadzor said on Wednesday it had written to Google and demanded that the restrictions be lifted and warned that Russia could seek to partially or fully restrict access to YouTube if it failed to comply.
Google has been contacted but no response from them.
YouTube recently removed some of Kremlin critic; Navalny’s videos in the country after government requests. The company removed videos featuring Navalny in the past due to the country’s parliamentary election.
