YouTube channels of 112 Ukraine, NewsOne and ZIK, associated with pro-Russian politician Viktor Medvedchuk, are no longer available in Ukraine as of April 24.
The three are the former TV channels that went off the air in February after being shut down by the National Security Council led by President Volodymyr Zelensky.
After going off the air, they remained available on YouTube.
Starting April 24, YouTube started showing “This channel isn’t available in your country” for 112 Ukraine, NewsOne and ZIK. However, they are still available on YouTube when watching abroad.
The three channels were notorious for spreading disinformation and Kremlin’s propaganda. They are officially owned by Taras Kozak, a lawmaker with a 44-member Opposition Platform, a pro-Russian party. However, the real owner is widely believed to be Medvedchuk, the head of the party faction and a friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Kozak and Medvedchuk deny it.
The following message started showing on YouTube on April 24 on the pages of 112 Ukraine, NewsOne, and ZIK — three former TV channels associated with pro-Russian politician Viktor Medvedchuk.
In February, the National Security and Defense Council imposed sanctions on Kozak, Medvedchuk, and their businesses, and shut down the three TV channels. The journalists of the channels called it censorship and continued airing on YouTube, for a much smaller audience.
This appears to be the first time when YouTube blocks content in Ukraine following security-related sanctions imposed by the country. Earlier, YouTube removed the popular channel of lawmaker and former journalist Oleksandr Dubinsky in response to U.S. sanctions imposed against him in January.
Although Medvedchuk is also under U.S. sanctions, he isn’t the official owner of the three channels, which is likely why they weren’t removed from YouTube completely.
YouTube also didn’t block Pershy Nezalezhny, a new channel that the staff of the three blocked channels started. It mirrors their content. As of April 24, it is still available on YouTube in Ukraine.
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Ukrainian oligarchs Rinat Akhmetov, Victor Pinchuk, Ihor Kolomoisky, Petro Poroshenko, Dmytro Firtash and Serhiy Lyovochkin control the nation’s major television stations and media empires. Viktor Medvedchuk was in the club until Feb. 2, when President Volodymyr Zelensky ordered Medvedchuk’s three TV stations off the air as a national security risk for their Kremlin propaganda. (Kyiv Post)
