YouTube blocks RT and Sputnik as Russia tells media not to say “invasion”

Due to the ongoing war in Ukraine, we are blocking the channels of Russia Today and Sputnik across Europe. Our teams keep an eye on the situation around the clock to take swift action.

Russia's government has told media not to call the invasion of Ukraine an attack or declaration of war.

European Union officials say they are banning Russia Today and Sputnik from broadcasting in the EU.

It is not clear how the ban will be enforced, as an EU spokesman told reporters yesterday that they are looking for the best legal way to ensure we can achieve our objectives. EU officials want the ban to apply to online platforms as well. The ban is expected to cover all means of distribution or transmission, including internet video sharing platforms and applications, according to an EU spokesman.

Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok take action

The online platforms are taking action. Meta said yesterday that it is blocking Sputnik andRT across Europe. A Meta official said the move came after requests from a number of governments and the EU to take further steps in relation to Russian state controlled media.

In an update today, Meta said it is demoting content from Facebook pages andInstagram accounts from Russian state-controlled media outlets, and we are making them harder to find across our platforms.

Taking steps to significantly reduce the circulation of this content on Twitter, it is adding labels to Tweets that share links to Russian state-affiliated media websites.

Since the invasion, we have seen more than 45,000 Tweets a day sharing links to Russian state-affiliated media outlets. While we have labeled the accounts of hundreds of global state media outlets for years, Tweets sharing their content lacked visible context.

The Foreign Ministry of Russia claims that Meta and Google should be held accountable for inciting war.

The company said it is dropping the show from its lineup and will no longer offer it immediately.

In the European Union, TikTok blocked Sputnik. TikTok, which is owned by Chinese company ByteDance, has faced scrutiny from US lawmakers about whether it gives information to the Chinese government.