Google reportedly terminated thousands of YouTube channels in China, Russia, and Brazil as part of its investigation into coordinated influence operations.
Google, the tech giant, terminated an approximate number of about 5,197 YouTube channels and 17 Blogger blogs as part of its ongoing investigation into coordinated influence operations linked to China. Most of these sites that got terminated uploaded spammy content in Chinese about music, entertainment, and lifestyle, the Siasat Daily reported.
“These channels and blogs mostly uploaded spammy content in Chinese about music, entertainment, and lifestyle. A very small subset uploaded content in Chinese and English about China and US foreign affairs,” the company said in a blog post.
In addition to these 5000+ sites in China, Google also terminated 718 YouTube channels in Russia as part of its investigation into coordinated influence operations linked to Russia.
“The campaign was linked to the Internet Research Agency (IRA) and was sharing content in Russian that was supportive of Russia and Russian President Vladimir Putin and critical of Ukraine and the West,” said the company.
“We terminated 8 YouTube channels and blocked 2 domains from eligibility to appear on Google News surfaces and Discover as part of our investigation into coordinated influence operations linked to Russia,” said Google.
It also terminated 27 YouTube channels in Russia for sharing content that was supportive of Russia and critical of Western Europe and Ukraine. They also pulled down 30 YouTube channels and 5 AdSense accounts linked to a Russian consulting firm, LatestLY reported.
Meanwhile, it also terminated 76 YouTube channels in Brazil where the campaign was sharing content in Brazilian Portuguese that was supportive of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.
In a similar but unrelated incident, Kanye West's Twitter account got suspended again after he posted a controversial picture of a swastika inside the star of David, as previously reported.
Below the controversial picture, he wrote the caption "YE24 LOVE EVERYONE #LOVESPEECH." Kanye announced earlier this November on Twitter that he is running for president. Based on the “YE24” in his caption, the symbol may be used in his 2024 presidential campaign.
Twitter CEO Elon Musk, who is typically for free speech, responded to Kanye’s now-deleted tweet and stated that he “violated our rule against incitement to violence,” and confirmed the suspension of his account via Twitter.
Kanye had previously tweeted that he would go “death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE,” which led to his both Twitter and Instagram accounts getting suspended.
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