The announcement comes after Meta made a similar action on Friday, forbidding "Russian state media from running advertisements or monetizing on our platform anywhere in the globe."
YouTube announced in a statement that it would be suspending the ability of several channels, including the state-funded news organization, to collect ad revenue. This comes only days after Russia announced its invasion of Ukraine on Thursday. "In light of the exceptional circumstances in Ukraine," YouTube stated in a statement, "we're halting a number of channels' ability to monetise on YouTube, including numerous Russian channels linked with recent sanctions."
Videos from the restricted channels will also appear less frequently in recommendations. As a result of a request from the Ukrainian government, and the other channels that have had their ad revenue paused are now no longer accessible in Ukraine. That request, from Ukraine’s minister of culture Oleksandr Tkachenko, was shared to Twitter on Saturday.
According to a Twitter message from security policy director Nathaniel Gleicher, Meta stated on Friday that it is "currently blocking Russian state media from placing ads or monetizing on our platform anywhere in the globe." "We're also continuing to slap labels on more Russian state-run media." "These modifications have already started to take effect and will continue through the weekend," he added.
Meta is rolling out locked profiles in Ukraine, has temporarily removed the ability to view and search the "Friends" list for Facebook accounts in Ukraine, and is taking additional safety measures for its Messenger app and the WhatsApp platform, in addition to blocking ads and monetization abilities for Russian state media.
Gleicher said that when it comes to Instagram, it is deploying privacy and account security alerts tied to password security and two-factor authentication in Ukraine. Earlier in the week, Meta created an operations center with experts from across the company, including native Russian and Ukrainian speakers, who are monitoring and responding to issues.
