Russian regulators on Friday came hard on US tech giant Google and its video subsidiary YouTube accusing it of ‘terrorist’ activities, which appears to be the first step towards a possible access ban.
Africa Daily News, New York reports that Russia has already blocked access to other global tech giants including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram as well as several independent media from her webspace.
Russian media regulator Roskomnadzor said YouTube users ‘are sharing adverts with calls to shut down railway communications between Russia and Belarus’.
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Russia partly carried out its military operation against Ukraine last month from the north through the territory of its ally Belarus.
‘The YouTube administration’s activities are terrorist in nature and threaten the life and health of Russian citizens,‘ Roskomnadzor said.
The watchdog further denounced Google’s ‘clearly anti-Russian position’ and demanded the US company “stops broadcasting anti-Russian videos as soon as possible’.
Russia earlier this month launched a criminal case against Meta — which owns Facebook and Instagram — accusing the company of allowing posts ‘calling for the murder’ of Russians.
Russia is one of the most restrictive countries for press freedom and freedom of expression, but the situation has worsened in the past few weeks since the operation in Ukraine began on February 24.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday accused Ukrainian authorities of stalling talks but added that Moscow was ready to search for solutions as he spoke with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
‘It was noted that the Kyiv regime is trying in every possible way to stall negotiations, putting forward more and more unrealistic proposals,’ the Kremlin said after the phone call.
‘Nevertheless, the Russian side is ready to continue to search for solutions in line with its well-known principled approaches.’
Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the phone talks between Putin and Scholz ‘tough’ while adding that such contacts were still needed going forward.
AFRICA DAILY NEWS, NEW YORK
