Amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, Google and YouTube have made the decision to remove advertisements from Russian State media channels, including RT.
In a statement, the official YouTube social media account shared its decision, explaining that some users may see ads on these channels until changes fully kick into action.
“Earlier today, we began pausing a number of Russian channels’ ability to monetize on YouTube including RT.”
“As always, It will take some time for our systems to fully ramp up and in the meantime, some users may see ads temporarily. We continue to monitor the situation closely.”
RT boasts 4.64 million subscribers with a consistent viewership and more than 3 billion channel views.
While Google and YouTube are the latest to take action against Russia for their decision to invade Ukraine, they aren’t the first. Meta, the company that owns Facebook, announced late last week that they’d be prohibiting Russian state media outlets from running ads or using monetization on Facebook.
Other changes implemented on Facebook also include further fact-checking and changes profiles of those in Ukraine to help protect their identities and stop them from being targeted.
Twitter also moved to make changes amid the conflict sharing that they will be pausing all advertisements in both Russia and Ukraine in an attempt to elevate important safety information for the public.
