Google Bans Over 2,600 YouTube Accounts Linked To Russia, China Over Influence Operations

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th August, 2020) US tech giant Goggle said it blocked more than 2,500 YouTube accounts linked to China and about 90 "pro-Russian" channels involved in "coordinated influence operation campaigns."

In its bulletin on coordinated influence operation campaigns terminated in the second quarter of 2020, the company said that it blocked a total of 2,596 YouTube channels linked to China.

"These channels mostly uploaded spammy, non-political content, but a small subset posted political content primarily in Chinese similar to the findings in a recent Graphika report, including content related to the U.S. response to COVID-19," the bulletin stated, adding that some accounts also posted content related to anti-racism protests in the United States.

Google added that from April to June, about 90 accounts linked to Russia were also blocked. Some of them posted content in Russian and English about the European Union, Lithuania, Ukraine and the United States, while others published information in Russian, German and Farsi on Russian and Syrian politics and the US response to COVID-19, as well as information about Russia's domestic policy and international issues.

The company also said that it blocked about 20 YouTube channels linked to Iran.