MOSCOW (awp/afp) – Russian officials on Saturday accused Youtube, owned by American giant Google, of having suspended the account of the Russian parliamentary channel, promising retaliation which raised fears of a blockage of the service in Russia.
Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin claimed that the Russian parliament’s lower house Youtube channel, “Douma-TV”, had been blocked, denouncing a Washington measure violating “the rights” of Russians.
“The United States wants to have a monopoly on the dissemination of information,” he said on his Telegram account. “We cannot allow this.”
AFP journalists in Moscow found that the account in question was no longer accessible on the platform on Saturday morning, with or without a virtual private network (VPN), a tool which makes it possible to avoid blockages.
According to Moscow, the “Douma-TV” account has more than 145,000 subscribers on Youtube. It broadcasts excerpts from parliamentary exchanges, interviews with Russian MPs and live broadcasts.
“In all likelihood, Youtube has signed its own condemnation”, reacted for its part the spokesperson for Russian diplomacy, Maria Zakharova, on Telegram, calling for the “rapid” transfer of Youtube content to Russian video platforms.
In recent weeks, in the midst of the conflict in Ukraine, Youtube has already been accused on several occasions by Moscow of having blocked the accounts of Russian media and officials.
On Saturday, Russian telecoms policeman Roskomnadzor called on Google to “immediately” restore the Douma-TV account.
Roskomnadzor already accused Google and YouTube of “terrorist” activities in March, the first step towards a possible blocking of the site in Russia, as Twitter, Instagram and several other independent media have been since the offensive in Ukraine.
office/pz