Russia: after the removal of the parliamentary channel, YouTube in the hot seat?

YouTube app logo on a tablet.

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YouTube's decision to remove the channel of the Duma, the National Assembly, provoked an outcry from deputies and politicians in Russia.

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With our correspondent in Moscow

,

Julian Colling

YouTube's days are probably numbered in Russia.

To be convinced of this, it suffices to read the reaction of the spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, this Saturday.

The one who is also the chief supervisor of foreign media in Russia immediately reacted on her personal Telegram channel.

For her, by deciding to remove the channel from the Russian Duma, YouTube had just signed its own condemnation.

In other words, his death warrant in Russia.

Like Facebook, Instagram or almost all independent or foreign media sites, YouTube should therefore be logically blocked by the formidable Roscom Nazor, the Russian telecoms policeman.

Since March, the platform has already been classified as extremist in Russia.

Deleted Russian Duma archives and videos may soon migrate to Rutube, the Russian analogue service launched in 2006 with little success since.

The blocking of YouTube would in any case be a new blow for the Russian independent press, a large part of whose journalists have fled the country.

Many have launched their own replacement YouTube channel to continue to inform their fellow citizens at all costs, especially

around the situation in Ukraine

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