Berlin says not involved in YouTube's blocking German channels of Russian broadcaster

By Oliver Towfigh Nia

BERLIN (AA) – Germany played no role in YouTube's decision to shut down Russian broadcaster's German-language channels, a government spokesman said on Wednesday.

Speaking at a routine weekly news conference in Berlin, Steffen Seibert said: "Firstly, for the federal (German) government, freedom of the press is a valuable asset and we defend it at home and abroad."

He added: "Second, we have taken note of the decision and because there are different stories on Russian channels, I want to say very clearly that it is a decision by YouTube, and the federal (German) government and its representatives have nothing to do with this decision."

YouTube has shut down the German channels of Russian state broadcaster RT amid allegations of coronavirus misinformation.

Writing on the messaging app Telegram, RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan called the move "a true media war" by Germany on Russia.

She also urged the Russian government to react by outlawing German public service broadcasters like ARD and ZDF.

In a statement, Russia's Foreign Ministry called the termination of RT's channels as an "unprecedented information aggression".

German authorities have repeatedly said they view RT's German service as merely a propaganda arm of the Russian state.

In August, Luxembourg rejected RT German's application for a broadcast license. The network wanted to broadcast from Luxembourg via satellite and sidestep German broadcasting rules.