EU asks Google and YouTube to suspend RT and Sputnik for being part of the Russian war machine

The European Commission (EC) was able to Google and YouTube (dependent on the first) to suspend the accounts of Russia Today, Sputnik and other media related to the Kremlin to comply with the sanctions that the European Union (EU) has approved before the invasion of Ukraine, among them the veto so that they emit in community territory.

In this sense, the vice president of the Commission for Values ​​and Transparency, Vera Jourová, and the Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton, met this Sunday with the CEOs of Google, Sundar Pichai, and YouTube, Susan Wojcicki.

“They discussed the urgent need to take stronger action to counter Russian state-sponsored disinformation and comply with sanctions, including the latest measures”, said community sources.

The meeting ended with aagreement to continue adapting and updating the policies of the platforms” to combat disinformation, the sources added, although “there was no specific result regarding what they are going to do”, said the spokesman for the Commission for the digital economy, Johannes Bahrke.

“I hope YouTube and Google step up their efforts to tackle Russian war propaganda. Russia has turned information into a weapon, that is why platforms cannot be a space for its war lies”, asked Jourová the day before.

“Freedom of expression does not cover war propaganda. War propaganda should have no place on online platformsBreton added.

The EU considers that RT and Sputnik “they are part of the war machine, propaganda instruments for Russia and therefore they are within the reach of sanctions”, said today the chief spokesman for the Community Executive, Eric Mamer

“They promote visions in this conflict that are absolutely controlled by the Russian state apparatus and therefore do not represent at all any type of media that tries to provide balanced coverage”, he added.