Photo: © Global Look Press/Keystone Press Agency/Rafael Henrique
On August 4, 2022, YouTube video hosting blocked the channel of Russian translator Dmitry Puchkov, known as Goblin. Three million subscribers watched the blogger’s videos on historical and political topics, and now when they try to access the channel, they see only a notification with the text: “This page is not available.” Goblin believes that the channel was removed for political reasons – in connection with the support of Russia. Russian pranksters Vovan and Lexus faced a similar problem earlier.
“It’s not the channel that was deleted, but me”
YouTube video hosting has removed the channel of Russian translator and blogger Dmitry Puchkov, better known as Goblin. He announced this on August 4, 2022. Earlier, according to the publicist, he received a notification from YouTube about a violation of the community rules.
“It is written that I violated the rules of the community. What rules I violated and where exactly, they never explain. They do not consider it necessary to explain. channel. Here I am objectionable, so the channel was deleted “– said in an interview in REN TV Goblin.
The blogger believes that his channel was blocked in connection with the support of Russia. “That is, if I am a citizen of Russia and have a positive attitude towards my country, then within the framework of American democracy this is unacceptable – I must hate my country and spoil it in every possible way. And if I don’t do this, then I don’t belong on American resources”– he said.
Puchkov does not plan to restore the channel or create a new one, because he is sure that the situation will repeat itself. The blogger also noted that he transferred all his videos from YouTube to RuTube and other platforms a year and a half ago. Goblin’s YouTube channel has over three million subscribers.
“Let’s play free speech”
According to Goblin co-host Klim Zhukov, known as Klim Sanych, Puchkov has already received two warnings from YouTube for “purely political reasons.” The blogger believes that the video hosting moderators do not like the Goblin channel because of the position of its owner.
“There is nothing surprising here, Facebook * was blocked in the same way much earlier, long before the current, well-known events, that is, for exactly the same reasons. Because our domestic segment, like Facebook*, like YouTube, is moderated by very specific persons with very specific aspirations not from Russia”– explained Zhukov in an interview with Gazeta.Ru.
One gets the impression that YouTube can block any channel that it does not like, Klim Sanych noted. “You, as the old Odessa joke says, either take off your cross or put your panties back on, because if you are talking about freedom of speech and democracy, then let’s play freedom of speech and democracy. If you are for the totalitarianism you condemn, tell me honestly: “We can block, ban and remove anyone from our public agenda just because we don’t like you”Zhukov shared his opinion.
British national security threat
In the spring of 2022, the YouTube channel of pranksters Vovan and Lexus was also deleted “for violating community rules”. The blocking occurred after they pranked British Defense Minister Ben Wallace by calling him on behalf of Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal.
The pranksters called the video hosting decision political censorship. According to them, the channel was removed after a complaint from the UK.
“… The British Ministry of Defense complained to us that the alleged videos with their minister, where he talked to us for 20 minutes, allegedly threaten the national security of Great Britain. On this basis, he demanded that YouTube close the channel”– told “Izvestia” Vovan.
Lexus also explained that the video contained Wallace’s words in the original, without any credits. In this regard, the statement of the British Ministry of Defense that the words of their own minister threaten national security looks ridiculous.
“It’s quite comical to hear that we are an instrument of Russian propaganda, because we just conveyed the words of the British Secretary of Defense to society. That is, if we propagandized something, it was only his own opinion”– emphasized the prankster.
At the same time, bloggers noticed that YouTube does not delete critical videos regarding Russia. “There you can find a lot of fakes, inciting political hatred. And these channels exist. And they continue to operate”Lexus said.
In June 2022, YouTube also removed the backup channel of Vovan and Lexus. According to the pranksters, the blocking occurred without explanation.
Censorship fight against Russia
The censorship struggle with Russia unfolded on the Web immediately after the start of the events in Ukraine. So, YouTube and Google began to block the accounts of those whose position does not coincide with the Western view of reality.
Russian publications that publish their materials on Youtube also came under pressure. In March 2022, video hosting blocked 24 media channels. Moreover, not only viewers in Russia, but also the entire Russian-speaking audience, have lost access to TV channels that have been trusted and still chosen on YouTube.
Journalists whose materials were blocked called for the video hosting to comply with Russian laws, but this did not change the situation. At the same time, on YouTube, you can easily find fakes and videos of anti-Russian content, to which the moderators for some reason do not pay any attention.
*Facebook is owned by Meta, which is recognized as extremist in Russia and banned
Source: Ren
Ray Bly is an accomplished journalist in the field of Automobile. He currently works as a writer at 24 news breaker. With a deep understanding of the Automotive industry and a talent for uncovering the latest developments, Ray’s writing provides readers with insightful and informative coverage of the latest news and trends in the field.