Ukraine has blocked access to the YouTube pages of the TV channels ZIK, 112 Ukraine and NewsOne, the broadcasting of which is prohibited in the country. This was reported on Saturday, April 24, by the press service of the Pershy Nezalezhny TV channel.
“This is due to the fact that YouTube has deprived Ukrainian users of access to these channels due to daily requests from the office of the President of Ukraine,” the message says.
In turn, the Minister of Culture of Ukraine Oleksandr Tkachenko thanked YouTube for making this decision.
“This is an important step towards the recognition of the world society of the fight against information influence on the part of the aggressor state. I am grateful to the specialists of the YouTube platform for paying attention to our appeal and the decision of the NSDC (National Security and Defense Council – Ed.) Of Ukraine regarding TV channels that posed a threat to the national security of Ukraine, since they are not media or regular broadcasting, but part of Russia’s propaganda war against Ukraine “, – wrote Tkachenko in his Telegram channel.
The Pershy Nezalezhny (First Independent) TV channel was created by journalists from ZIK, 112 Ukraine and NewsOne. An hour after the start of the broadcast, they were disconnected from the satellite. Then, at the request of the Security Service of Ukraine, the TV channels were also disconnected from cable broadcasting. However, the broadcasts continued on YouTube, Gazeta.ru writes.
In early February, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy put into effect the NSDC decision on restrictions against the TV and radio company 112 Ukraine, its regional channels Ariadna TV, TV Vybor, New Format, Partner TV and Leader TV, and See also News 24 Hours (NewsOne TV channel). The decision was explained by the fight against “propaganda”.
Since February 3, the TV channels “112 Ukraine”, NewsOne and ZIK have stopped broadcasting.
According to a poll by the Kiev International Institute of Sociology, the data of which was published on February 11, more than 40% of Ukrainians called the closure of TV channels a mistake.