Kremlin Urges Google To Revoke YouTube Block For Russian Broadcasting

JAKARTA The Kremlin urged Alphabet Inc., Google's parent company, to lift the block on Russian TV channels on YouTube. The Russian side hopes that the growing lawsuit against the US-based company will spur Google to act.

Google has stopped advertising in Russia since March 2022 and stopped monetization of content deemed exploiting, ignoring, or supporting Russia's war in Ukraine. Since then, more than 1,000 state-backed YouTube channels and more than 5.5 million videos have been blocked.

According to a Russian business newspaper RBC report, a lawsuit filed by 17 Russian TV channels against Google in a Russian court has reached 2 undecillion rubles (with 36 zeros), a number referred to as symbolic by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

"This number illustrates the essence of our channel demands against Google," Peskov told reporters. Google shouldn't limit our broadcaster activities, but in reality Google is doing that. Perhaps, this big lawsuit should be an excuse for Google management to pay attention to and improve the situation. That's the best thing this company can do."

Google has not yet responded to a request for comment on this matter.