Blocking Belarus’ state media, YouTube violated its own rules and protocols – Osenko

By blocking Belarusian state media channels, YouTube violated its own rules and protocols. This was noted by the General Director of CJSC “Capital Television” Alexander Osenko following the results of the round table “The right to information in the modern world”, which was held by the Permanent Commission of the House of Representatives on human rights, national relations and the media.

Oleksandr Osenko noted that YouTube without any warning closes accounts that do not have any extremist publications, personal data that would violate the rules of the platform itself:

- They just see that the Belarusian media is popular, so they close it. YouTube is violating its own rules and protocols. This is an unprincipled position. The General Director of CJSC "Capital Television" drew attention to the fact that in March 2025, the head account with the TV channel logo scored 342 million views on the YouTube platform. Seven of the top ten videos related to the statements of the President of Belarus. Alexander Osenko added:

- They just have to close, and they close. As for STV, Alexander Osenko said that since the beginning of spring, seven accounts with an audience of 2 million 600 thousand subscribers have been closed. The total number of views for 2025 alone was 2 billion 500 million on all seven accounts. In addition to the head account, backup rooms were closed, where not only socio-political programs, but also entertainment content were placed.

- Another defamatory fact is that YouTube closed accounts allegedly on the basis of sanctions against Belarusian media. However, neither the General Director of CJSC nor the broadcaster STV sanctions neither the European Union nor the United States. Therefore, the closure of ETS accounts is a violation of the principles of democracy. We always talk about it. This is unscrupulous in action, he stressed.

Speaking about the results of the round table, the Director General of STV noted that media representatives brought information to parliamentarians about the blocking of state media accounts on the YouTube platform.

- It's very simple. Our enemies do not want to see the truth. They do not want foreign audiences to see the good situation in Belarus, the entire political component pursued by our President and implemented in our country. They are trying to provoke us to leave these platforms. But we're moving on. Because for us the most valuable is the audience, said Alexander Osenko.

SB AMERICATION

YouTube channels of the republican media — BelTA, ONT, STV — were removed on April 3 due to sanctions. The American company Google did not provide any explanation. The Ministry of Information of the Republic of Belarus negatively assessed this unfriendly and groundless step, indicating that it reserves the right to take the necessary response measures. Later, in mid-September, right during the live broadcast of the talk show “Essentially”, dedicated to the Day of National Unity, YouTube video hosting blocked the TV channel STV. The video hosting has removed the channel of “DH show”, projects “Opinions” and “Without cover”. In addition, Radio Stalitsa, the First Channel of Belarusian Radio and Radio Kultura BY were blocked. After another blocking of cultural, entertainment and socio-political channels of Belarusian media by YouTube, the Ministry of Information published a statement in which it regarded this fact as a gross manifestation of censorship and information segregation. The Ministry of Information urges Belarusian citizens to give preference to other, primarily national video platforms that do not practice such discriminatory approaches in their work. The House of Representatives discussed the mechanisms of media protection