London – The battle between Vladimir Putin’s government and Big Technologies over state propaganda and related fake news invasion of ukraine There was another part: YouTube confirmed that over 70,000 videos and 9,000 channels were removed that violated the platform’s “major acts of violence” policy.
Duration many North American social networks, Like Twitter and Facebook, YouTube, which was shut down or restricted by the Russian authorities at the outbreak of the war, remained very popular in the country, helping to inform about the conflict, but also becoming a major distributor of pro-Kremlin propaganda and its alleged motivations. occupation of the neighboring country.
The removal of content, some of which described the war as a “liberation mission” undertaken by the Russian government, was disclosed by the British newspaper The Guardian and was classified as “unprecedented” by YouTube due to the amount of videos and channels taken down. at the same time. same time.
YouTube draws attention to violations of rules in videos about the war in Ukraine
The disagreement between Putin and platforms has been going on since before the war. In December of last year, Moscow court fined the equivalent of US$98 million (R$550 million) to Google and US$27 million (R$152 million) to Facebook’s parent company Meta, not to exclude content prohibited by local law.
Tensions escalated with the war, and the pressure on the Great Technicians to contain disinformation and state propaganda increased proportionally. Last week, Twitter announced a new policy. flagging content that contains disinformation, even in government accounts.
Before 70,000 videos and 9,000 channels were toppled, YouTube was already removing channels for violating the guidelines of journalists, TV stations supporting the occupation, and even government offices of Vladimir Putin.
Channels such as pro-Kremlin journalist Vladimir Solovyov and those linked to the Russian Ministry of Defense and Foreign Affairs have been among those temporarily suspended from broadcasting videos in recent months.
The Guardian claims that the announced removal of videos and channels related to the war in Ukraine was done on the basis that it has determined to violate YouTube’s guidelines regarding such content. The “Major Violence Policy” prohibits denying or trivializing armed conflict.
YouTube product director Neal Mohan explained his “policy of major violence” in an interview with the British newspaper:
“It applies to situations like denial of violence greater than the Holocaust. [o massacre da escola] Sandy Hook.
And of course, what’s happening in Ukraine is a major act of violence. And then we used this policy to take unprecedented action.”
Last week, Neal Mohan attended an event in London to talk about the importance of the company being the last major platform in Russia and the steps it took to combat disinformation during the war in Ukraine.
According to him, YouTube’s first and foremost responsibility is to ensure that its users have reliable, high-quality information about events such as the war between Russia and Ukraine.
Mohan adds that with the onset of the conflict in Eastern Europe, the consumption of channels that broadcast news or analysis about it in the surrounding countries such as Ukraine and Poland, in addition to the territory of Russia, increased significantly.
Conflict news content received more than 40 million views in Ukraine alone.
While YouTube didn’t elaborate on what content and channels were removed, chief product officer told the Guardian that many of these represent “Kremlin narratives” about the occupation:
“I don’t have specific figures, but you can imagine that most of them are narratives from the Russian government or from Russian actors on behalf of the Russian government.”
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YouTube, information resource about the war in Ukraine
YouTube, the country’s largest functioning video sharing site, has about 90 million users in Russia.
In March, Google suspended all online ads on its platforms in the country, including its video streaming service. Twitter and Snapchat had already done the same.
Mohan told The Guardian:
“YouTube is a place where Russian citizens can get uncensored information about the war, including many of the same channels we have access to outside of the country.
As this crisis continues to evolve, we remain an important platform for Russian citizens.”
Last week, Russia signaled that it does not intend to block YouTube in the country, although it fined the company for not removing “banned videos”, i.e. videos not approved by the Kremlin.
However, changing the platform could turn that around, even as Russia’s digital development minister Maksut Shadaev acknowledged the impact of a possible ban on the site in the country.
“We are not planning to shut down YouTube.” First of all, we must clearly understand that when we restrict something, our users will not be harmed,” Shadev told reporters.
However, after the mass removal of videos and channels, a different reaction should not be ignored.
Last week, the Russian government closed the Moscow office of Canadian public broadcaster CBC and ordered foreign professionals to leave the country within three weeks, tying the decision to a response to Russia Today in Canada’s ban.
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Twitter takes a similar step to YouTube in Ukraine war
Like YouTube, Twitter has made a move to stop the spread of fake news about the war in Ukraine on its platform.
Last week, the company announced a new guideline calledcrisis disinformation policy”, p.Even in government accounts, publications containing false information about the conflict are warned of “false information that could pose a risk to crisis-affected populations.”
Content classified as such by Twitter likes, retweets, shares and monetized amplification are blocked. But the removal of the content won’t happen for fear of infringing on Twitter’s freedom of expression.
“In times of crisis, misleading information can undermine public trust and further harm already vulnerable communities,” Yoel Roth, Twitter’s head of security and protection, said in a blog post announcing the changes. Said.
The company stresses that the priority to rank fake news about the war in Ukraine will be government-linked media profiles and verified official government accounts.
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source: Noticias
