[Peace-discuss] News links worth checking out -- Snowden, Greenwald, and Johnstone

[J.B. Nicholson]

I wrote:
> I don't know what's going on with RT's English YouTube channel 
> https://youtube.com/channel/UCpwvZwUam-URkxB7g4USKpg/videos but RT's
> Telegram channel is still going (see https://t.me/s/rtintl for
> "preview" mode so you can read this without running the Telegram
> proprietary software). YouTube's RT channel publishes nothing more
> recent than 5 days old (as I write this); this looks like RT is being
> shadowbanned on their main English YouTube channel.

https://on.rt.com/b6rj has some information:

>  RT’s English YouTube channel was issued a strike by the service over
> alleged Covid-19 disinformation, temporarily restricting its ability
> to launch live broadcasts. RT in Germany faced similar sanctions.
> 
> On Friday, four videos on RT’s main English-language channel were
> made inaccessible for viewers for what YouTube said were violations
> of its policies on “medical misinformation” and “spam, deceptive
> practices and scams.”
> 
> In its notification letter, the platform didn’t specify what exact
> content in those clips went against its regulations. RT has addressed
> YouTube for clarification, but hasn’t gotten a response yet.
> 
> According to YouTube’s rules, the blocking of four clips on a channel
> amounts to a “strike.” As a penalty, RT’s English channel will be
> barred from organizing live broadcasts for the next seven days.
> 
> None of the blacklisted clips were newly uploaded.They remained on
> RT’s channel for weeks and even months, garnering numerous views and
> likes from the audience.
> 
> One of them was an interview with renowned Russian virologist and
> World Health Organization expert on influenza Dmitry Lvov, who made a
> name for himself by researching the most dangerous viruses in the
> former Soviet Union and abroad. In the clip from early March, Lvov
> spoke to RT’s journalist, Anton Krasovsky, about the dangers and
> possible origins of the current coronavirus pandemic.
> 
> Another blocked video was an episode of the Wayne Dupree Show, hosted
> by the black American journalist of the same name. It was dedicated
> to January’s inauguration of US President Joe Biden, in which Biden
> called on supporters to skip the event due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
> 
> The other two clips were news broadcasts from rallies against
> coronavirus restrictions in London and Birmingham without commentary.
> 
> Meanwhile, the head of RT in Germany, Dinara Toktosunova, confirmed
> that RT DE also got a strike on YouTube. The video in question, a
> livestream from October 2020, showed an anti-lockdown protest in
> Melbourne, Australia. There was no explanation from YouTube as to
> which specific moment of the footage triggered the sanctions. As the
> second strike for the page, it carries a harsher penalty. The German
> channel won’t be able to upload videos and stage live broadcasts for
> two weeks now, according to Toktosunova.
> 
> The platform’s rules state that “three strikes in the same 90-day
> period will result in your channel being permanently removed from
> YouTube.”
>
> The latest action against RT follows another episode of social media
> clampdown on the news outlet.
> 
> In late March, the RT Arabic channel on YouTube, which is one of the
> most popular news sources in that language, was blocked entirely over
> copyright infringement claims by a US-based firm. However, its
> operations swiftly resumed after the hugely popular service was
> unblocked a few hours later. YouTube claimed the ban was
> “unintentional.”
> 
> Last year, RT’s Twitter account was marked as Russian state-
> affiliated media, which means the tweets by the account won’t be
> promoted or suggested for further reading by the social media giant.

A related link:

https://on.rt.com/b51c -- "YouTube blocks – and then unblocks – highly
popular RT Arabic channel after US-based company files copyright
infringement claims" which includes:

> Writing on Facebook, Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria
> Zakharova accused the social network of “another act of censorship.”
> 
> “I’m tired of repeating hackneyed, politically correct phrases,” she
> said. “So let me be blunt: American digital giants have raped free
> speech.”
> 
> YouTube’s blocking of RT Arabic is the latest in a long line of
> Russian state-funded outlets being targeted by social media giants.
> Last year, RT’s Twitter account was subjected to a shadowban, meaning
> it is now undiscoverable via the website’s search function.

https://on.rt.com/b787 - "Facebook bans RT’s digital content project
Redfish after posts marking end of Mussolini’s dictatorship and
Holocaust Memorial Day"

Meanwhile, other state-funded foreign media outlets (such as the BBC
and CBC) continue to not be pressed to comply with FARA (Foreign Agent
Registration Act) like RT's employees have. And the BBC, CBC, and
others don't find themselves being censored on popular American-based
social media systems.