r/technology • u/Regular_Eggplant_248 • Jul 21 '25

Social Media YouTube wipes out thousands of propaganda channels linked to China, Russia, others

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/07/21/youtube-channels-propaganda-china-russia.html
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u/scr0tal Jul 21 '25

Google announced Monday the removal of nearly 11,000 YouTube channels and other accounts tied to state-linked propaganda campaigns from China, Russia and more in the second quarter.

The takedown included more than 7,700 YouTube channels linked to China.

These campaigns primarily shared content in Chinese and English that promoted the People’s Republic of China, supported President Xi Jinping and commented on U.S. foreign affairs.

Over 2,000 removed channels were linked to Russia. The content was in multiple languages that supported Russia and criticized Ukraine, NATO and the West.

Google, in May, removed 20 YouTube channels, 4 Ads accounts, and 1 Blogger blog linked to RT, the Russian state-controlled media outlet accused of paying prominent conservative influencers for social media content ahead of the 2024 election.

Tim Pool, Dave Rubin and Benny Johnson — all staunch supporters of President Donald Trump — made content for Tenent Media, the Tennessee company described in the indictment, according to NBC News.

YouTube began blocking RT channels in March 2022, shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine.

The active removal of accounts is part of the Google Threat Analysis Group’s work to counter global disinformation campaigns and “coordinated influence” operations.

Google’s second quarter report also outlined the removal of influence campaigns linked to Azerbaijan, Iran, Turkey, Israel, Romania and Ghana that were found to be targeting political rivals.

Some campaigns centered on growing geopolitical conflicts, including narratives on both sides of the Israel-Palestine War.

YouTube declined to provide further comment on the removal.

Google took down more than 23,000 accounts in the first quarter.

Meta announced last week it removed about 10 million profiles for impersonating large content producers through the first half of 2025 as part of an effort by the company to combat “spammy content.”

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u/red-cloud Jul 22 '25

See how free we are? We don’t have government censorship in the USA because our corporate overlords do it voluntarily!!

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u/sw00pr Jul 22 '25

I would like the ability to verify that these channels are bad. And see what other evidence YT has against them. Frankly, I don't trust any The Man to tell me what is and isn't safe to watch. Transparency is all I ask.

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u/TheHumanite Jul 22 '25

Seems like they're just saying that since they were pro China or pro Russia, they were bad which, boy am I glad to be so free. Not like those censored and propagandized Russians and Chinese folks!

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u/sblahful Jul 22 '25

You're allowed to run state sponsored content, you just need to have a banner declaring it. The BBC has one, for instance. I'm guessing these channels did not. But yeah, ideally we'd see much more transparency from these companies.

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u/niet_tristan Jul 22 '25

The articles say the channels were explicitly state-linked. The Russian state is actively waging a war, kidnapping Ukrainian children, committing war crime en masse against Ukrainians and their own alike, wiping out minorities by sending them to the front, heavily oppressing LGBTQ people and murdering political opponents... so it is very safe to make the educated assumption that whatever these state-linked accounts were sharing was not beneficial to anyone.

Obviously we are not immune to propaganda. But you are a fool if you think that these Kremlin-funded channels were sharing even a grain of truth.

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u/TheHumanite Jul 22 '25

I didn't say they were spreading truth. It was definitely propaganda. It just doesn't seem worse than our propaganda. Recall our own complicity and assistance to daily war crimes.

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u/Trollsense Jul 28 '25

The world does not revolve around Gaza and Israel.

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u/bozzie_ Jul 22 '25

America, China and Russia are not the only countries in the world.

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u/TheHumanite Jul 22 '25

Agreed. Thanks for participating.

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u/Sam_Porgins Jul 22 '25

Freedom of speech doesn’t mean freedom to say whatever you want without consequences, and it doesn’t mean private corporations are required to give you a platform.

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u/uzu_afk Jul 22 '25

Is me selling you snake oil for a lot of money while you wither away from preventable disease freedom? I don’t think freedom should trump law, because at the end of the day we have to live with each other in a society. If we didn’t we’d be killing ourselves daily. So how free are we? Free enough to identify the bullshit and defend against it. And that should go both ways.