Russia: Roskomnadzor sends letter to Google LLC demanding YouTube to restore access to Russian state media channels

On 17 April 2021, the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media of Russia, Roskomnadzor, sent a letter to Google LLC, the owner of the platform YouTube, demanding the company to restore access and remove all restrictions imposed on accounts of Russian state regional media. Roskomnadzor claims that Youtube blocked the access to the channels of “State TV and Radio Company Stavropol”, “Kuzbass and Vainakh of the Chechen Republic”, “Krasnodar”, and “Bashkortostan and Novosibirsk”. Furthermore, the agency demanded that Google provide the reasons for the access restrictions. Roskomnadzor claimed that the restriction of the video represents an act of censorship because it violates the right to free distribution of information and unrestricted access to it.