Russia Threatens to Kick Out U.S. Journalists if YouTube Blocks Briefings

The Russian Foreign Ministry has threatened to expel U.S. journalists or media outlets if YouTube blocks access to its press briefings.

Maria Zakharova, a spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry, said Thursday that she has had "a couple of briefings blocked" by the platform.

"What we did—we simply went and said: 'If you block a briefing once again, one reporter or one American media outlet will go home.' That's it. This is not along the lines of 'do whatever you want.' Another blocked briefing, and we will name a particular name or a particular media outlet that will return home," Zakharova said, according to Russia's state-run Tass news agency.

Many Western news organizations have already suspended operations within Russia after the nation's parliament passed a law earlier this year banning the spread of what the government deems "fake" information about the war in Ukraine and the country's military.

Companies such as CNN and the BBC have moved to temporarily pull their journalists from the country in the wake of the crackdown on reporting within the country.

Reuters reported on Tuesday that Russia's parliament passed another law this week that gives the country the ability to close foreign news bureaus if a country has been "unfriendly" to Russian media.

In April, Russian officials including Zakharova also took aim at YouTube for blocking live streams of Russia's parliament channel, Reuters reported at the time.

"The USA wants to obtain a monopoly on promoting information. We cannot let it happen," Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of the Russian Duma, said on the platform Telegram.

That month Google, which owns YouTube, told the news outlet: "If we find that an account violates our Terms of Service, we take appropriate action. Our teams are closely monitoring the situation for any updates and changes."

Newsweek has reached out to YouTube and the Russian Foreign Ministry for comment.

Russia has consistently clashed with U.S.-based social media platforms since it invaded Ukraine in February. Last month, the country fined Twitter for failing to remove content that the country considers illegal. Just days before, the country had fined Meta, the parent company of Facebook, after accusing it of failing to delete "LGBT propaganda."

In the days immediately following Russia's invasion, social media companies moved to restrict or fully ban access to certain Russian state media accounts. This included YouTube announcing that it was blocking channels linked to the RT and Sputnik Russian state media outlets.