Russian Officials Give Google Warning To Remove Certain Videos, Accuses Platform Of Spreading Misinformation

The Russian Federal Service for Supervision of Communications (Roskomnadzor) has warned Google to remove certain videos from YouTube, as first reported by The Washington Post.

Regulators called YouTube “one of the key platforms participating in the information war against Russia.” Although it isn’t exactly clear which videos Roskomnadzor is referring to, it held Google's video-sharing application responsible for possessing videos from far-right Ukrainian groups. It is also accusing the platform of spreading misinformation and “discrediting” Russian troops.

In Russia, YouTube has the most consumers of all social networking platforms. As the country has banned many other networks since the invasion in February, such as Facebook and Twitter, YouTube has been the easiest way for people in the country to view content from overseas.

In a statement released by Roskomnadzor on March 18, the regulators “demanded that Google LLC immediately stop spreading threats against citizens of the Russian Federation on YouTube video hosting,” as translated from Rusian by Google. “The spread of such appeals clearly demonstrates the anti-Russian position of the American company Google LLC,” it added.

The Washington Post clarified that a Google spokesperson was not available for comment.