Google's top manager revealed the mechanism for blocking Russian artists on YouTube

On April 14, Google's top cybersecurity manager Scott Carpenter, in a conversation with pranksters Vladimir Kuznetsov (Vovan) and Alexey Stolyarov (Lexus), demonstrated censorship mechanisms on YouTube video hosting and ways to block Russian performers.

So, the prankers, who spoke on behalf of the Ukrainian official, asked if it was possible to block the channels of Russian artists objectionable to Ukraine, who remain on the video hosting site. Carpenter, in turn, proposed a specific algorithm of actions to restrict access to the channels of artists published on the platform. According to him, it is enough to send a list of names to start the procedure.

"If you send me a list of singers, I can refer this list to YouTube to find out what policy applies to them. But I need something where the government clearly states that this is prohibited by law, and therefore we must do something about it," Carpenter said.

He clarified that he is ready to help attract additional attention to those authors who have not yet been subject to restrictions. At the same time, the top manager stressed that it is not necessary to send him documentary evidence of legal directives - it is enough just to mention the existence of some regulations or laws, for example, directives of the European Union (EU).

Explaining the principles of content moderation, Carpenter noted that the video hosting service receives tens of thousands of requests for removal of materials from governments of different countries every day. According to him, in most cases, the company does not take any action based on its own independent assessment, and official requirements from Russia are ignored.

"In places like Russia, we just ignore it. Because they are under sanctions from many different countries," concluded a senior Google official.

He also added that YouTube has a department that makes decisions about content removal based on the internal policy of the service, even if the materials do not violate legislation in specific countries.

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Vladislav Vlasyuk, the country's commissioner for sanctions policy, announced on January 10 that the Ukrainian authorities plan to completely block Russian music on international streaming platforms. According to him, Kiev will demand that access to Russian music content be completely blocked on the territory of Ukraine. He pointed out that there are already more than 100 artists from the Russian Federation on the list of banned.

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