"YouTube has labeled RT content with a 'Made in Russia’ caption. It is surprising that the box does not depict a bear wearing an ushanka hat [a fur hat commonly worn by Russians], which is undermining democracy in Limpopo," Simonyan said referring to a popular image used to embody Russia, and accusations of undermining democracy voiced against Russia by Western politicians.
The new YouTube feature has been introduced in line with the new policy of IT giant Google, which owns YouTube, to improve transparency of news appearing on its platforms.
READ MORE: Simonyan Mocks Accusations of Spreading 'Fake News' With Use of 'KGB Farms'
During the hearings in the US Congress in January, as part of the investigation into the alleged Russian meddling with the 2016 US presidential election, the representatives of Google said that the news by RT and Sputnik had already been labeled as having Russian government funding.
Google representatives, however, noted during the hearings that they had not found any transparency violations on the part of both agencies.
The Russian authorities, as well as the news outlets, have repeatedly denied allegations of interfering with the 2016 US vote.
On Reported Halt of RT Broadcast in US Guantanamo Bay Prison
"I cannot imagine what we have interfered with in Guantanamo. But the Pentagon has decided to delete us from there, just in case," Simonyan said, commenting on a report by the US Miami Herald newspaper that RT, which had been popular with the inmates, was deleted from the list of channels available for them in summer by order of the Pentagon.
The report came several months after the US branch of the RT broadcaster registered as a "foreign agent" in the United States under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) upon the request of the Department of Justice.
At the same time, other foreign state media operating in the United States, such as the United Kingdom’s BBC, Germany’s Deutsche Welle and others, have not been asked to do the same.
