Google-owned after Facebook and Instagram youtube said on Tuesday it also blocked Russian news outlets rt (formerly Russia Today) and artificial satellite across Europe in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Alphabet-owned company confirmed the news on Twitter.
“Due to the ongoing war in Ukraine, we are blocking RT and Sputnik-linked YouTube channels across Europe effective immediately. It will take time for our systems to fully recover. Our teams are monitoring the situation round the clock continue to take prompt action,” it posted.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the bloc would ban “the Kremlin’s media machine”.
“The government-owned Russia Today and Sputnik, and their subsidiaries, will no longer be able to spread their lies to justify Putin’s war. We are developing tools in Europe to ban his toxic and harmful propaganda,” he said.
East, meta (formerly Facebook) blocked Russian state media outlets RT and Sputnik throughout the European Union.
RT and Sputnik Pages will no longer be visible on Facebook and Instagram in the EU.
“We have received requests from several governments and the European Union to take further steps regarding Russian state-controlled media,” Nick Clegg, president of global affairs at Meta, said on Twitter.
“Given the extraordinary nature of the current situation, we will at this time restrict access to RT and Sputnik throughout the European Union,” he posted late Monday.
The social network has also blocked Russian state media from advertising on the platform.
Meta previously blocked access to several Russian state-controlled accounts in Ukraine. The social network said it is also reviewing requests from other governments to restrict access to these accounts in their countries.
Affected by partial restrictions, Meta (formerly Facebook) banned Russian state media from running ads or monetizing its platform anywhere in the world.
Meta has also shut down a network in Ukraine targeting people who posed as news editors, aviation engineers and writers to spread misinformation about the Russian invasion on social media platforms.
The company said people ran websites posing as independent news entities and created fake individuals on social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Telegram and the Russian Odnoklassniki and VK apps.
The operation led to a handful of websites masquerading as independent news outlets, claiming that the West had deceived Ukraine and Ukraine into being a failed state.