Russian journalists express solidarity with Belarusian media following YouTube restrictions  

MINSK, 4 April (BelTA) – The Russian Union of Journalists (RUJ) has expressed solidarity with its Belarusian colleagues following another act of politically motivated censorship by the YouTube platform, BelTA learned from the Belarusian Union of Journalists.

“The blocking of accounts belonging to leading Belarusian media outlets is yet another confirmation that Western digital platforms have long ceased to be neutral environments for the dissemination of information. Today they are instruments of ideological pressure, selective restriction of audience access, and direct interference in the information sovereignty of states,” the RUJ emphasized.

“When the overt and covert owners of such platforms realize they are losing open informational and ideological competition, they resort to their usual tactic: not to argue, not to persuade, not to compete, but simply to switch off. This is not strength, it is weakness. This is not the protection of freedom of speech, it is its demonstrative destruction,” the RUJ added.

The Russian side supported the position of the Belarusian Union of Journalists and described the incident as an act of information vandalism directed against the Belarusian media community and against the right of Belarusian society to receive information from its own journalists, rather than only from sources approved by the West.

“Such actions must receive a principled assessment not only at the national level but also internationally. The professional journalistic community must call things by their proper names: this is censorship, political discrimination, and an attempt to suppress unwanted voices in the digital environment,” the RUJ stated.