Google Banned Russian Media Monetization on Its Platforms

After the invasion of Russian troops on the territory of Ukraine, not only the authorities of other states but also large companies imposed sanctions and restrictions on the Russian media. Among the first was Meta, followed by Google. On Saturday, Google representatives announced that they were setting a ban on monetization and the purchase and placement of advertising on RT and other state-owned channels on their platforms and sites. Shortly before it, YouTube banned several Russian media from placing ads on their channels literally around the world.

All this was done in connection with "extraordinary circumstances," more precisely, with Russia's aggression towards Ukraine. According to company spokesman Michael Aciman, they are closely monitoring developments and are ready to take further action to prevent disinformation from the pro-state media. Also, it was decided to restrict access to such channels in other countries, particularly in Ukraine.

The exact list of blocked resources is unknown, as YouTube refused to disclose it. Presumably, it may also include TASS, Russia 24, RIA Novosti, and so on, since Ukraine's Digital Transformation Minister mentioned them in his address. It is known that Russia, in total, supported about 26 channels and could earn around $32 million from them at the time of the study in 2018.

Google's decision followed European Union sanctions. Recall, the EU imposed sanctions against some Russian propagandists last week: Margarita Simonyan (RT head), Vladimir Solovyov (TV presenter), Maria Zakharova (Russian Foreign Ministry official representative), and many other media figures. Do you follow the developments in Ukraine? What other measures do you think the big tech giants can take to influence the Russian authorities?