Facebook and YouTube are blocking Russian state media from running ads on their platforms, while Twitter is suspending all advertising in Ukraine and Russia, as pressure mounts on tech platforms to respond to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, American University Radio reports.
In a tweet, head of security policy at Facebook, Nathaniel Gleicher said: “We are now prohibiting Russian state media from running ads or monetizing on our platform anywhere in the world.”
On Saturday, Google-owned YouTube said it was also suspending several Russian state-media channels, including RT, from making money from ads. In addition, the online video platform is limiting recommendations to those channels and is blocking them entirely in Ukraine at the request of the Ukrainian government, according to a YouTube spokesperson.
Late on Saturday, Google said it was “pausing” the ability of Russian state-funded media to make money through Google’s ad services as well.
“We’re actively monitoring new developments and will take further steps if necessary,” Google spokesman Michael Aciman said.
Twitter, which banned advertising from state-controlled media in 2019, also took action, saying it was temporarily pausing all ads in Ukraine and Russia “to ensure critical public safety information is elevated and ads don’t detract from it.”