YouTube is going to block channels at the request of Roskomnadzor — "Agency"

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YouTube is going to block not individual videos, but entire channels at Roskomnadzor’s request, the Agency (recognized as a foreign agent) reported , citing the OVD-Info project (recognized as a foreign agent and blocked in Russia).

In early May, YouTube informed administrators that it had received a notice from Roskomnadzor to block the channel "How is it now?" (99 thousand subscribers). Before that, Roskomnadzor blocked five OVD-Info resources in Russia, including two of the project's YouTube channels - in addition to "How is it now?", this is the main channel of "OVD-Info". The reason given was a violation of the Law "On Information", the specific motivation is unknown.

"As far as we know... this is the first case in Russia when RKN demands to block a channel as a whole, and not a specific video," the Agency quotes Dmitry Anisimov, press secretary of OVD-Info. According to him, the resource is trying to explain to Google the illegality of the blocking, and otherwise fears the irrevocable loss of the channel with all subscribers.

In addition, YouTube blocked three videos on military service evasion in Russia from the channels “Dozor v Volgograd,” “Shkola prizyvnika,” and another independent regional media outlet, writes “Agentstvo.”

In the first case, the blocking was explained by the posting of "information on ways and methods of evading military service by conscription." "School of the Conscript" writes that its video was added to the register of information "prohibited from distribution on the territory of the Russian Federation" and blocked on this basis. The material was titled "Criminal charges will help you avoid serving. A conviction for evading conscription will protect you from military service."

YouTube has not previously blocked opposition content at the request of Russian authorities, the resource claims. This does not apply to various extremist content: reports of its blocking have been traced back to at least 2019.