‘Act of censorship’: Russian media watchdog writes to YouTube about deleted German-language RT channels, demanding explanation

Russia's national media regulator Roskomnadzor has officially requested an explanation from Google over YouTube’s decision to delete RT's German-language channels, RT DE and DFP, calling the move an unacceptable act of censorship.

The American tech giant said on Tuesday that it had deleted the channels for allegedly attempting to circumvent a strike in violation of ‘community guidelines’, after RT DE was barred from live-streaming for a week over a claim of ‘medical misinformation’ in four videos. DFP (Der Fehlende Part) was deleted for sharing the ‘offending’ clips.

“YouTube’s cancellation of video hosting to these channels violates the key principles of free distribution of information and unhindered access to it,” said a letter sent on Tuesday to the Google-owned company by the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media, colloquially known as Roskomnadzor.

We consider these actions of the YouTube administration as an act of censorship and consider any restrictions on access to channels unacceptable.

In the letter seen by RT, Roskomnadzor demanded the lifting of all restrictions from both channels “as soon as possible,” and for YouTube to explain its decision.

RT’s editor in chief Margarita Simonyan called the censorship a “declaration of media war on Russia by Germany” and urged Moscow to respond by banning German state broadcasters Deutsche Welle, ARD and ZDF, as well as sanctioning YouTube itself.

Before it was deleted, RT DE was among the top four German-language channels in YouTube’s News and Politics category, with over 600,000 subscribers and almost 547 million total views, based on Tubular Labs data for August.

The outlet, which sought to launch a TV broadcast service later this year, has faced mounting pressure in Germany in recent months. In mid-August, Luxembourg denied RT’s application for a German-language broadcast license. Multiple German media outlets reported that representatives from Berlin met with officials in Luxembourg to discuss the issue, but Chancellor Angela Merkel has denied pressuring the neighboring country into the decision.

German banks have refused to work with RT DE, and a number of newspapers and magazines have published false claims about the outlet, which were later proven to be defamatory in German courts.

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