"Putin's chef" requests that YouTube be blocked in Russia

Ukrainska Pravda
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IRYNA BALACHUK – SUNDAY, 30 OCTOBER 2022, 15:05

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Russian businessman and founder of the Wagner Group who is also known as "Putin's chef", has submitted a formal request to the Prosecutor General to conduct an audit of YouTube's activities and to consider declaring the American company Google LLC "undesirable" in the Russian Federation.

Source: News agency Holod, which published Prigozhin's request; Dozhd (Rain) media company

Details: Prigozhin claims that since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a "full-scale information war" has been launched against the Russian Federation, involving the extensive use of "disinformation and negative attitudes inculcated via YouTube".

In his request, Prigozhin alleges that YouTube is spreading fake news, publishes Russophobic content, is calling for the overthrow of the government in Russia, etc.

According to Putin’s chef, there are "perfectly good equivalents of YouTube" in Russia, such as VK, Rutube, Odnoklassniki and Zen.

He also urged the prosecutor's office to restrict access to YouTube.

Quote from Prigozhin: "Russians’ outrage about why Roskomnadzor [the Russian Federal Service for the Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media] has not yet blocked YouTube, where they are being openly humiliated and insulted, continues to grow. People are worried that all this Russophobic content can be seen by their children. The time calls for tougher measures, because the fines that have been imposed have not stopped these flagrant violations."

Background:

  • At the end of September, Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, also known as "Putin's chef", admitted for the first time that he founded the Wagner paramilitary formation on 1 May 2014 in order to seize territories of Ukraine.

  • In March 2022, Roskomnadzor stated that the video hosting platform YouTube is engaged in terrorism and demanded that it stop broadcasting "anti-Russian videos".

  • Around the same time, Russian state-owned outlets reported that YouTube could be blocked in Russia by the end of March 2022.

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