Russia's foreign ministry on Friday accused YouTube of censoring content and blocking access to information at the request of the United States, warning that it saw sufficient grounds to take action against the site.
At Washington’s request
Russia has criticized Google, which owns YouTube, in recent years for shutting down channels of Russian media outlets and public figures and failing to remove content that Moscow deems illegal or unacceptable.
Russia has accused YouTube of censoring content at Washington’s behest
“We see a lot of serious grounds for taking action against the video hosting site YouTube,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement.
“The numerous systematic violations of Russian law and the obvious disregard for the domestic audience and its interests give our state regulators the right to use appropriate legal tools,” she added.
“Disrespect for the law and political censorship remain the norm for the Washington-controlled YouTube administration,” Zakharova said, accusing it of systematically removing Russian content in an attempt to deprive the world of Russian information sources.
Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Zakharova’s statement.
A YouTube spokesperson previously said the site was aware of reports that some people were unable to access YouTube in Russia.
"This is not a result of any technical issues on our part or action we took," he said.
Comments