04 April 2026, 14:39

Former MEP criticizes YouTube for blocking BelTA channel

MOSCOW, 4 April (BelTA) – In the West, anyone whose opinion they dislike gets blocked, journalist and former Member of the European Parliament from Latvia Andrejs Mamikins said commenting on the removal of the YouTube channels of BelTA, ONT and STV, by the American video platform, BelTA has learned

“The blocking was done absolutely cynically, without explaining the reasons, in violation of the very rules they themselves invented,” Andrejs Mamikins said.

The journalist knows from personal experience how the American video platform operates: several years ago, his blogging channel Mamikins TV was also blocked. “But in your case, YouTube has blocked the main media arteries of a large and powerful country. And I say this without any irony, because the Republic of Belarus is a large country by European standards: 10 million people, a country with strong state institutions. And the media content produced by the national agency BelTA, TV companies, and other media outlets reaches millions of people in the geographical center of Europe. Since you broadcast not only to Belarus, the potential audience is even larger. They were frightened by your point of view. This is absolutely unacceptable,” he stressed.

Commenting on the immediate appearance of fake clones of BelTA and other Belarusian media on the platform after the blocking, Andrejs Mamikins noted that one can certainly spend time and money filing complaints, appeals, and lawsuits. “It won’t hurt: constant pressure wears down the stone. But to be honest, I don’t believe in their success, because this is not justice. It is a parody of justice,” he said.

“They want to drown out the powerful flow that was coming from you, because you were offering your own agenda that was truly independent of their rules,” the former MEP added.

“Sooner or later, you will return, including to YouTube, because the world will return to normal. Look: just a year ago, no one believed that President Aleksandr Lukashenko would meet with the U.S. president’s special envoy, that there would be direct dialogue, that the U.S. president could call the president of Belarus directly from his plane. No one believed it. But it is happening. The same will happen with the media area. You will return, if you need it, to YouTube and other platforms. For now, you must endure and grow stronger through the difficulties that have fallen upon you. It means you are doing everything right,” he concluded.