Moscow Blasts US IT Giants' Censorship of Russian Media While Actively Pushing 'Hostile Propaganda'

Western governments and internet giants including Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Twitter have moved to heavily censor Russian foreign-language media outlets over the conflict in Ukraine, blocking websites, shutting down social media pages, and taking radio and television broadcasts off air.

Moscow considers US IT companies' actions censoring Russian media to be "unacceptable," a Foreign Ministry spokesman has said.

"Separately, attention should be paid to the absolutely unacceptable behaviour of foreign, especially American, IT giants such as Google and Meta. Hostile propaganda activities are openly conducted on their social platforms, while Russian sources of information are blocked, and massive restrictions on access to domestic media are put in place," Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Gavrilov said in a meeting of the Russian Federation Council on Tuesday.

These companies' actions not only serve as a medium for spreading disinformation, but also see them directly participating in such activities, according to the official.

Accusing the US and its allies of "shamelessly inciting" a proxy war using Ukrainians to fight Russia, Gavrilov pointed to promises by Washington and others to pump new arms supplies into Ukraine, sending weapons "to those who engage in their uncontrolled distribution among the civilian population, and recruited criminals."

"Throughout the eight years that have passed since the anti-constitutional coup in Ukraine in 2014, the Western curators of the regime in Kiev, led by the US, have purposely pushed it into aggression both against its own population and against our country," the spokesman suggested.

"Washington and its ideological allies in NATO are deeply indifferent about the fate of Ukraine, just as they have been indifferent about the lives of millions of residents of the Donbass, whom the [post-coup] authorities in Kiev hastened to officially classify as terrorists," Gavrilov added.

Sputnik, RT and other Russian media resources, including those serving both domestic and foreign audiences, have come under increasing attack from Western governments, IT and social media giants in recent days, with censors taking websites offline, forcing television and radio broadcasts to shut down, and blocking channels and accounts on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and elsewhere.

So far, Russian authorities and IT companies have refrained from a tit-for-tat retaliation, with most Western news sources remaining open inside Russia (apart from those shuttered by foreign news outlets themselves using IP blocks), and Russians remain able to get information about the situation in Ukraine from a variety of sources - ranging from government and independent media to local reporters and residents on the ground, including via social media.