The Union of Journalists of Russia intends to appeal to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, the Prosecutor General’s Office and Roskomnadzor with a request to take measures against Google and YouTube because of censorship, said the head of the SRR Vladimir Solovyov.
“We have prepared an appeal to the Foreign Ministry, to the Prosecutor General’s Office, to Roskomnadzor, which I will read to you now. YouTube, a video hosting company owned by Google, has repeatedly censored the Russian media. According to Roskomnadzor, since 2020, various restrictions on Russian media have been applied on YouTube 54 times, among those censored were the channels of Russian independent journalists and media with a multimillion audience,” Solovyov said at a press conference on Thursday.
In his appeal, the SDR asked to influence the situation with censorship against the Russian media on Google and the YouTube video hosting owned by it.
«We are against infringement of rights and censorship of the media on the basis of nationality. We are for free access to information from the media that comply with the laws and norms of professional activity“, – said the chairman of the Union Vladimir Solovyov.
He also stressed that the SDR does not call on the authorities to block Google and YouTube in Russia. But at the same time, it is necessary to give an answer to the biased attitude of moderators and censorship according to all norms of Russian legislation.
“We call on the Russian authorities not to leave this situation without reaction and take appropriate measures against Google and YouTube in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation, we oppose infringement of rights and censorship of the media on a national basis,” Solovyov added.