Google’s Russian office did not comment on the request of the Human Rights Council (HRC) about the reasons for blocking YouTube media channels without the possibility of recovery, citing the fact that Google LLC is not a representative office of Google LLC in Russia, and the company itself does not have branches in the country. The Council announced this on August 13.
“We are faced with a very strange situation when on the Google website, in the“ About the Company ”section, the office of Google LLC in Moscow is indicated in the list of offices, and when contacting the specified address, we are told that google.ru has nothing to do with an American company.” , – said the head of the HRC Valery Fadeev.
According to him, in reality, the Russian office of the company handles the affairs of Google Corporation and contacts with experts and lawyers, but refused to contact human rights activists.
“It’s a pity that in the direction of protecting the rights of the Russian media from unmotivated blocking, we have to go such a tricky way and, if we have an office in Russia, write to America,” Fadeev added.
On August 6, the HRC sent a request to the Russian office of Google addressed to the head of David Sneddon with a request to explain why the channels of Russian media and bloggers are blocked without the right to restore, and also why the procedure for preventing violations of the community rules and the terms of use of the YouTube platform is not followed.
The answer, which the HRC received signed by Sneddon, will be discussed at the next meeting of the standing commission on freedom of information and the rights of journalists, the Council added.
On May 20, video hosting YouTube, without giving any reason, deleted the account of one of the main Crimean TV channels, Crimea 24.
“What are the reasons, nothing is explained. In parallel, a number of other Russian channels were removed. Therefore, we just stop using YouTube as a platform and will make do with other hosting. There is no point in explaining and proving something to someone, ”said Oleg Kryuchkov, general producer of the Krym TV and Radio Company.
In addition, the account of the News-Front news agency was deleted without explanation.