For breaking their content policies, YouTube has removed over 70,000 videos and 9,000 channels about the conflict in Ukraine. This includes videos that referred to the invasion as a 'liberation mission.'

The website is very well-liked in Russia, where it has not been shut down despite featuring content from opposition figures like Alexei Navalny, unlike some of its US counterparts. Despite taking action against pro-Kremlin video that violated rules, such as its big violent events policy, which forbids downplaying or denying the invasion, YouTube has continued to operate in Russia.

YouTube has removed several channels since the controversy started in February, including the one run by pro-Kremlin journalist Vladimir Solovyov. For referring to the conflict as a 'liberation mission,' channels connected to the Russian Ministries of Defense and Foreign Affairs have also had their ability to upload films temporarily restricted.

YouTube's news coverage of the war has generated more than 40 million views alone in Ukraine, according to an interview with the Guardian.

Making ensuring that anybody searching for information about this tragedy can find correct, reliable material on YouTube is the first and arguably most important obligation, he said. In addition to Russia, Poland, and other countries bordering Ukraine, the consumption of authoritative channels on our platform has increased dramatically.

Maksut Shadaev, the Russian minister for digital development, declared last week that the nation would not block YouTube despite content issues that led to the platform being punished in court for failing to remove prohibited videos.

Shadaev suggested that censoring the most widely used social media site in Russia will have an impact on users. The minister assured the audience that YouTube will not be shut down. Above all, we should be sure that our users won't be harmed when we restrict something.

Russian state media channels like Russia Today and Sputnik have also been blocked globally on YouTube. Due to the sites' own restrictions on Russian state-owned media, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are all prohibited in Russia.