17 Dec 2021 3:33 pm
Russia’s communications supervisory authority Roskomnadzor is threatening YouTube with a full ban in the country if the video hosting portal does not restore the deleted live channel RT on the air. The legal basis for such a measure is in place.
For your information: You can still receive RT DE Live on other platforms, including directly over the Internet on the RT DE website.
The Russian communications supervisory authority Roskomnadzor has the cancellation of the RT-Live broadcast channel on YouTube a few hours after it started broadcasting as an act of censorship:
“The destructive steps taken by the video hosting platform are unprecedented and violate the key principles of free disclosure and unhindered access to information.”
Roskomnadzor also asked YouTube to disclose the reasons for the measures.
Immediate restoration of RT on broadcast required
Above all, the Russian supervisory authority urgently advised the IT group to restore RT DE’s YouTube channel:
“On December 16, Roskomnadzor addressed a letter to the management of Google LLC (owner of the video hosting website YouTube) demanding that the restrictions on the German-language news and analytics channel RT, owned by the Russian media company RT, be lifted to be picked up as soon as possible. “
How about ad revenue on YouTube?
In the event of a refusal, the video hosting platform threatens to block its services throughout Russia, the supervisory authority stated, with reference to the relevant laws of the country:
“According to Russian law (482 Federal Code), an Internet resource for such actions can be classified and placed on the appropriate list by the Prosecutor General or his deputy in consultation with the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a warning from Roskomnadzor received. “
“If the owner of the internet resource doesn’t heed Roskomnadzor’s warning, the law will see one [russlandweite,] partial or total restriction of access and an administrative warning. “
How sensitive a complete block would hit the IT group cannot be precisely estimated, as YouTube keeps its advertising income secret. However, certain indicators provide information about the situation. On the one hand there is the volume of Internet traffic, here as an example one Statistics from October 2021. When it comes to traffic, Russia ranks second with 5.47 percent of global traffic, after the USA with 20.31 percent. Brazil ranks third with 4.64 percent, ahead of Japan with 3.77 percent of global traffic volume.
The prices in US dollars per 1,000 advertising placements are also important. An example is for the YouTube channel CuteStockFootage.com in 2020 specified. This generated an average of 1.45 US dollars for 1,000 advertising placements in Russia, 0.38 US dollars in the USA, 0.32 US dollars in Brazil and 2.36 US dollars in Japan.
However, these prices depend on numerous parameters of the individual YouTube videos and channels. Relevant are, among other things, content, category, user value, the time users spend viewing the video and the extent of user participation. It should also be borne in mind that these parameters can be statistically very different from country to country and that advertisements are always auctioned off to the highest bidder. Last but not least, YouTube also receives income from sales to users within the platform.
RT – YouTube’s Stepchild
Since the beginning of 2020, YouTube has restricted access to Russian media and their content 25 times, according to data from Roskomnadzor. In doing so, “the most common restrictions to the Russian media company RT imposed “.
more on the subject – European Licensing Law: A refresher course for inexperienced regulators
