GOOGLE yesterday became the latest US tech giant to prevent Russian state media from earning money on its platforms, in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

It follows similar moves by its YouTube subsidiary and Facebook.

“In response to the war in Ukraine, we are pausing Google monetisation of Russian state-funded media across our platforms,” said a Google spokesman in a statement.

“We are actively monitoring new developments and will take further steps if necessary.”

The move was revealed hours after YouTube announced it will block certain Russian media channels from monetising their videos, among other restrictions.

“In light of extraordinary circumstances in Ukraine, we are taking a number of actions,” said a YouTube spokesman in a statement.

“Our teams have started to pause the ability for certain channels to monetize on YouTube, including RT’s YouTube channels globally,” said the spokesman, referring to the Russian state-funded news outlet.

YouTube channels earn money through ads that appear when users watch their videos.

On Friday, Facebook said it is banning Russian state media from running ads and monetising through its platform.

Nations worldwide issued broad sanctions against Russian businesses, banks and officials after Russia invaded Ukraine on Thursday.

“As always, our teams are continuing to closely monitor for new developments, including evaluating what any new sanction and export control may mean for YouTube,” said the platform’s spokesman.

In addition to restricting monetisation, YouTube added that it will limit recommendations to the same channels and is “continuing to actively surface authoritative news content” in Russia- and Ukraine-related search results.

Videos from RT and a number of other channels will also be “restricted” by YouTube, said the company.

At the beginning of this month, Germany banned RT, which prompted Russia to close the Moscow bureau of German media outlet Deutsche Welle.

RT, created in 2005 under the name Russia Today, is regularly accused by Western authorities of contributing to disinformation.

YouTube noted that over the past few days it has removed hundreds of channels, including some for “coordinated deceptive practices”, the term the company uses for disinformation. – AFP, February 27, 2022.