April 9 (Reuters) – YouTube has blocked ‘Douma-TV’, the channel of Russia’s lower house of parliament, angering Russian officials who have threatened retaliation.
Saturday, a message on YouTube, owned by Alphabet
GOOGL.O, said Duma’s account was “terminated for violating YouTube’s Terms of Service”.
Vyacheslav Volodin, the Duma speaker, said YouTube’s decision was further evidence of Washington’s violations of rights and freedoms.
“The United States wants to obtain a monopoly on the dissemination of information. We cannot let this happen,” Vyacheslav Volodin said on Telegram.
Russian communications regulator Roskomnadzor has asked Google to immediately restore access to the parliamentary channel.
“The American IT company adheres to an anti-Russian position displayed in the information war launched by the West against our country,” the regulator said.
Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.
Russia has already restricted access to Twitter
TWTR.N and as well as Facebook and Instagram from Meta Platforms
FB.O, since the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian army on February 24.
Roskomnadzor announced Thursday retaliatory measures against Google, which it accuses of broadcasting “false images” on the Ukrainian conflict.
In particular, the regulator prohibits him from advertising for the platform and its information resources. nL5N2W526F
(Reuters report, French version Matthieu Protard)