YouTube blocks Russia's RT channels in Germany for spreading misinformation about Covid-19

YouTube deleted two of Russia’s RT channels

YouTube deleted two channels of the German edition of the Russian state channel RT (RT DE) beyond recovery due to its spreading of false information about the coronavirus. In response, the channel’s management threatens to ban German media in Russia.

According to the Russian Novaya Gazeta newspaper, the RT DE and Der Fehlende Part (DFP) channels were removed. RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan described the decision as “a media war declared by the state of Germany against the state of Russia”.

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In addition, the editor-in-chief of RT said she was “very much waiting” for the German media outlets to be banned in Russia in response.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova also commented on the situation in her telegram channel: “We are preparing a commentary on this matter. Everyone will like it, especially German journalists”.

The press service of Google explained that the German-language RT channels were removed due to violation of YouTube’s rules regarding false information about the coronavirus.

“RT DE has issued a warning for uploading content that violates our COVID-19 false information policy. This led to the suspension of their rights to publish the video”, the company said.

Google clarified that the second RT channel was blocked because, during the suspension of the first one, the editorial staff used it to bypass the restrictions.

The RT editorial office claims that their total weekly television audience in Europe reaches 43 million people from 15 countries, and their audience worldwide has reached 100 million. RT broadcasts to all major European countries, including the UK, Germany, France, and Spain.