MOSCOW, July 16 (Bernama-Sputnik) -- Russia's tech and communications watchdog, Roskomnadzor, told Sputnik on Tuesday it had sent to Google LLC CEO Sundar Pichai a demand to unblock more than 200 YouTube accounts of Russian media.
"Roskomnadzor sent a demand to Google LLC CEO Sundar Pichai to unblock more than 200 YouTube accounts of Russian media, federal authorities, enterprises and sports clubs, as well as various public, political and musical figures who speak out in support of the Russian Federation and the actions of the authorities," the agency says.
Since 2020, YouTube has applied restrictive measures to 207 Russian accounts, including to 83 this year alone. Among those banned from the platform are accounts of RT, RBC, singers Shaman, Oleg Gazmanov and Yulia Chicherina, writer Zakhar Prilepin and designer and blogger Artemy Lebedev.
Roskomnadzor noted that restrictive measures fundamentally violated the key principles of the free dissemination of information and unhindered access to it. Such actions of video hosting are unacceptable, this is an act of censorship. YouTube adheres to an uncompromisingly Russophobic policy, it added.
-- BERNAMA-SPUTNIK
