Russia Expected to Block YouTube

Russia, already moving to block YouTube, might be pulling the plug on the western social media platform in its country as soon as Sunday.

Claiming video hosts "are of a terrorist nature and threaten the life and health of Russian citizens," the Russian federal communications agency, Roskomnadzor, is moving to add YouTube to the list of platforms already banned – Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

The news comes from a Telegram post by RIA Novosti, citing sources close to Roskomnadzor, the agency responsible for monitoring, controlling, and censoring in Russia.

The move has been delayed, but it remains expected to come after Roskomnadzor demanded Thursday that Google stop "spreading threats" against Russians on YouTube.

In related news, Russia is working to beef up its state-run social media platforms, including plans to create its own social video platform called RuTube, according Russian Foreign Ministry communications director Maria Zakharova.

"We need to build up our platforms," she said, RIA Novosti reported, noting the social networks need to conform to Russian law and order.

"How long can you wait, call and beg for domestic social networks to finally work?" she continued. "We ask, as people who have been involved in the information environment for many years, we ask and explain."

RuTube might be made available in Russia in weeks, instead of months amid the blocking of YouTube.

"I really hope that in the near future – this should not be a year anymore, this should be maximum a month – RuTube will work normally so that it is a full-fledged platform," Zakharova told a parliamentary hearing of the State Duma Committee on Family, Women and Children titled "On Legislative Ensuring Information Security of Children and Adolescents."

Zakharova pointed to the "ugly logic" of justifying violence and "rejecting the truth" in the need to protect Russians.

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