YouTube, Big Tech Ratchet Up Censorship Amid Russia-Ukraine War

Keneci Channel

As international backlash grows against Russia over its ongoing invasion of Ukraine, the regime in Kremlin has continued to tighten its grip on the free flow of information in the country. President Vladimir Putin is scared that Russians may find out their conscripted sons and daughters are dying in a war of aggression in a neighboring country.

Apparently western allies opposed to Putin's war, are 'in a race' to outdo him on the authoritarian censorship front, all in the guise of combating 'disinformation.'

Western governments including the United Kingdom, European Union and United States, have implemented new sanctions and/or regulations forcing Big Tech companies and financial institutions to 'put the squeeze' on the Russian economy.

Big Tech giants like YouTube and Facebook are ratcheting up their censorship regime against Kremlin-backed media outlets and and pro-Russian propaganda.

YouTube recently blocked Russia state media outlets RT News and Sputnik in Europe. The outlets along with their subsidiaries, were sanctioned by the European Union last week.

YouTube announced Friday, that the streaming giant is expanding the ban globally. "In line with that, we are also now blocking access to YouTube channels associated with Russian state-funded media globally, expanding from across Europe," the Google-owned platform announced on Twitter. "This change is effective immediately, and we expect our systems to take time to ramp up."

Last week Apple pulled RT and Sputnik’s apps from its global App Stores following a request by Ukrainian vice prime minister Mykhailo Fedorov, who wrote a letter to CEO Tim Cook asking Apple to stop device sales in Russia and block access to the App Store entirely.

DuckDuckGo CEO Gabriel Weinberg announced on Twitter Thursday, the search engine is now down-ranking sites associated with Russian 'disinformation.'

“Like so many others I am sickened by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the gigantic humanitarian crisis it continues to create,” Weinberg wrote. “At DuckDuckGo, we've been rolling out search updates that down-rank sites associated with Russian disinformation.”

DuckDuckGo was made popular by conservatives and free speech activists who are alienated by the censorship regime on Google Search.

Weinberg's tweet set off swift backlash with many wondering how the platform determines what is 'disinformation.' Many users declared they are abandoning the search engine, for free speech alternatives like Brave Search.

Meanwhile in a bizarrely hypocritical move, Meta is reportedly making a temporary change to its hate speech policy on its social media platforms Facebook and Instagram, to allow for calls for violence against Russian soldiers and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Critics pointed out that while Putin still has an account on these platforms, former U.S. president Donald Trump was banned.

YouTube recently deleted Full Send Podcast episode featuring Trump. The podcast hosted by social media influencers the NELK Boys, has been watched by nearly six million people before it was taken down by the streaming giant.

Conservatives in the west argue that Big Tech's unchecked power is a threat to democracy and global order. They charge that Big Tech's deliberate promotion of woke degeneracy and stifling of free speech are wrecking havoc in western societies.

The concern over Big Tech's grip on the flow of information, has lead to the development of alternative platforms -- and parallel economy.

Banned media outlets like RT News have found 'new homes' on alternative platforms like free speech social media site Gab and video streaming platform Odysee.