Google Removes Thousands of Channels to Combat Disinformation
The American company Google reported the removal of nearly 11,000 channels on YouTube and other accounts associated with state propaganda campaigns from China, Russia, and other countries in the second quarter of this year.
According to Ukrinform, this information was reported by CNBC.
Specifically, over 7,700 YouTube channels linked to China were removed. These pages primarily disseminated content in Chinese and English that promoted the People’s Republic of China, supported its leader Xi Jinping, and commented on U.S. foreign policy.
More than 2,000 of the deleted channels were linked to Russia. The content, written in multiple languages, supported Russia and criticized Ukraine, NATO, and the West.
In May, Google removed 20 YouTube channels, 4 Google Ads accounts, and 1 Blogger account associated with RT, the Russian state propaganda media accused of paying prominent conservative opinion leaders to spread content on social media ahead of the 2024 U.S. elections.
It is noted that YouTube began blocking RT channels back in March 2022, shortly after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The active removal of accounts is part of the work of Google's Threat Analysis Group to counter global disinformation campaigns and coordinated influence operations.
Earlier, in the first quarter, Google removed over 23,000 accounts.
