YouTube removes more than 70,000 videos and 9,000 channels related to Russian invasion of Ukraine

A total of 70,000 videos and 9,000 Youtube Channels were deleted by the social media platform. Most of these videos broke the platform’s policy, which prohibits Youtube creators from denying or trivializing violent events such as the Russian invasion Of Ukraine. 

“We have a major violent events policy, and that applies to things like denial of major violent events: everything from the Holocaust to Sandy Hook. And of course, what’s happening in Ukraine is a major violent event,” YouTube’s chief product officer Neal Mohan told The Guardian. “And so we’ve used that policy to take unprecedented action.”

Mohan also informed that these videos were narratives by the Russian government or played out by Russian actors on behalf of the Russian government. 

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, YouTube has removed videos that described the war as a “liberation mission,” as well as a channel belonging to the pro-Kremlin journalist Vladimir Solovyov, The Guardian said.

With 90 million users, YouTube remains the largest video sharing platform in Russia. “YouTube is a place where Russian citizens can get uncensored information about the war, including from many of the same authoritative channels that we all have access to outside of the country. We remain an important platform for Russian citizens themselves as this crisis continues to evolve,” Mohan told The Guardian.