The online video streaming platform Youtube had blocked Indian news channel WION for seven days for broadcasting a portion of the speech by the Russian foreign minister.
According to the statement issued by the WION network, Youtube blocked the WION channel on the platform for publishing a speech made by Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov. The platform had blocked the news outlet from uploading any new content on its channel.
In its statement, WION said that their users had written to them asking why was the media outlet not posting videos anymore.
However, as per WION, one of the videos it had published on March 10 had allegedly violated Youtube guidelines resulting in a seven-day ban. WION had broadcast two live speeches—one by Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba and the second by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
#Gravitas | WION’s YouTube channel has been blocked for 7 days after broadcasting a speech by the Russian foreign minister. The same speech was carried by the YouTube channels of multiple western media houses. What explains this open bias? @palkisu tells you#YouTubeUnblockWION pic.twitter.com/k1M2gH0uox
— WION (@WIONews) March 25, 2022
Days later, on March 22, YouTube reportedly sent a message to WION saying they would not be allowed to post any videos. They said it violated YouTube’s community guidelines. According to WION, they made an appeal to YouTube, however, it was rejected. The media outlet said they wrote to Youtube demanding an explanation.
“Our community guidelines prohibit content denying, minimizing, or trivializing well-documented violent events, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Under this policy, we have removed content, for example, denying that Russia invaded Ukraine or alleging that Ukrainian victims are crisis actors,” Youtube wrote in response.
WION has claimed that it was not the only media that telecast the Russian Foreign Minister’s speech, but several Youtube channels, including the western media outlets, had put up the video. However, Youtube decided to censor WION on the pretext that the video promoted pro-Russian content. After this, there were allegations that this was not just censorship by the big-tech, but it was also racism by YouTube given that they censored WION but not other Western channels that reported the same.
It is not just censorship by Big Tech, it is also racial prejudice and political bias. @YouTube blocks @WIONews for showing Russian FM’s speech. But takes no such action against Western media for showing same speech.
— Kanchan Gupta 🇮🇳 (@KanchanGupta) March 26, 2022
White media can; Brown media can’t? https://t.co/6TIQWoSHQo
In response to the arbitrary ban on WION, the media outlet has slammed Youtube, asking who made the big tech companies like our media watchdog?
“YouTube cannot be a platform and act as an editor and a censor all at the same time. That’s called rigging the game. Silencing Russia will not end this war. Silencing us will not stop our journalism. We want people to know the truth—To hear and reject the lies, to form their own opinion and not be fed and programmed,” the WION said in response to Youtube banning their channel.
Youtube censors Russian media, neutral content on Russia-Ukraine crisis
Amidst the ongoing war in Ukraine, YouTube has arbitrarily blocked the channels connected to Russian state-backed media outlets Russia Today (RT) and Sputnik across Europe, effective immediately. YouTube, in its statement, said that the company was observing the situation in Ukraine very closely.
“It’ll take time for the systems to fully ramp up. Our teams continue to monitor the situation around the clock to take swift action,” the company operated by Alphabet Inc’s Google had said.
In addition to the Russian media outlets, Youtube has also censored independent media outlets under the pretext of publishing pro-Russian content.
