DISINFO: Youtube blocked RT German-language channels as they are uncomfortable for the German officials
DISINFORMATION CASE DETAILS
  • Outlet: Pervyi Kanal ( archived) *
  • Date of publication: September 29, 2021
  • Article language(s): Russian
  • Countries / regions discussed: Germany, Russia

DISINFO: Youtube blocked RT German-language channels as they are uncomfortable for the German officials

SUMMARY

We are talking about two channels that the Internet giant deleted the day before, but, in fact, destroyed, since the right to restore is not provided. The reason was the alleged "violation of the terms of use of the service." But what exactly the moderators did not like is not clear.

The aim of the aggression against the projects of the Russian media holding is obvious - to shut out sources of information that do not fit into a comfortable media background for the German officialdom.

RESPONSE

YouTube deleted RT's German-language channels on 28 September 2021, saying it had breached its COVID misinformation policy.

Initially, RT's German channel was issued a strike for uploading content that violated YouTube's COVID misinformation policy, resulting in a suspension of posting rights on the platform for a week.

During that suspension, the Russian broadcaster tried to circumvent the suspension using alternative channel ("Der fehlende Part). "As a result, both channels were terminated for breaking YouTube Terms of Service," said the spokesperson to Reuters.

YouTube's terms of services are available online, including updates on its COVID-19 misinformation policy. The claims that YouTube blocked RT for inexplicable reasons are false.

YouTube will ban any video that claims vaccines are ineffective or dangerous, including those that question vaccines for measles and chickenpox, the company announced.

“Specifically, content that falsely alleges that approved vaccines are dangerous and cause chronic health effects, claims that vaccines do not reduce transmission or contraction of disease, or contains misinformation on the substances contained in vaccines will be removed. Since last year, we’ve removed over 130,000 videos for violating our COVID-19 vaccine policies”, the Google-owned company said in a blog post announcing the new enforcement measures.

See also analyses of reports by RT Deutsch entitled "covid is not a killer virus, wearing masks and testing has no sense at all" and "covid-19 is an ordinary flu epidemic, hysteria is caused by media and politics". See all the disinformation cases by RT Deutsch about COVID 19 in our database.

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