Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

Google’s YouTube suspends 210 channels alleged to have ties to the Chinese government

Google’s YouTube suspends 210 channels alleged to have ties to the Chinese government

‘We discovered channels in this network behaved in a coordinated manner while uploading videos related to the ongoing protests in Hong Kong,’ Google says. The move follows similar measures announced this week by US social media platforms Facebook and Twitter

YouTube has suspended scores of accounts alleged to be part of a Chinese government-backed campaign to influence opinion about unrest in Hong Kong, the video-sharing platform’s owner Google announced on Thursday.
The move follows similar measures announced by US social media platforms Facebook and Twitter
earlier this week.

“As part of our ongoing efforts to combat coordinated influence operations, we disabled 210 channels on YouTube when we discovered channels in this network behaved in a coordinated manner while uploading videos related to the ongoing protests in Hong Kong,” Google said in a blog post.

“This discovery was consistent with recent observations and actions related to China announced by Facebook and Twitter,” the online search giant’s director of software engineering, Shane Huntley, said in the post.

“We found use of VPNs and other methods to disguise the origin of these accounts and other activity commonly associated with coordinated influence operations,” Huntley added.

On Monday, Twitter said that 936 accounts originating from China had been suspended for a number of violations of the company’s “platform manipulation policies”, including spam, coordinated activity, fake accounts and ban evasion.

Facebook followed almost immediately, announcing that it had removed seven pages, three groups and five accounts involved in what the company called “coordinated inauthentic behaviour as part of a small network that originated in China and focused on Hong Kong”.

Twitter, Facebook and most other Western social media platforms are blocked in mainland China by the Great Firewall of censorship and filtering, but they are accessible in Hong Kong, where anti-government protests have been escalating for nearly three months.
Allegations that the Chinese government is behind accounts pushing pro-Beijing viewpoints of the unrest, and the response by the US social media giants, have further exacerbated bilateral tensions. The two countries have been locked in a trade war
that has escalated for more than a year, and Washington has put sanctions in place against Chinese telecoms equipment makers including Huawei
Technologies.

China’s foreign ministry has objected to the closing of the social media accounts, and several US lawmakers have said the alleged state-supported disinformation campaign was another example of Beijing’s threat to national security.

“I believe people around the world will come to their own judgment about what happens in Hong Kong and what is the truth,” China’s foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said on Tuesday in response to the moves by Twitter and Facebook. “Why do you think what is described by the Chinese state-run media outlets must be negative or wrong?”

Meanwhile, the vice-chairman of the US Senate Intelligence Committee, Senator Mark Warner, said China was trying to engineer “social control” beyond its borders.

“As I’ve emphasised previously, China has long been a pioneer in harnessing communications technologies for social control, censorship and surveillance,” Warner said on Thursday, shortly before the announcement by Google.

“The Chinese government has built an entire infrastructure to support its efforts at information control, through a combination of censorship and disinformation,” added the Democrat from Virginia. “And it’s exporting both the technology and ideas information control to authoritarian regimes around the world.”

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff weighed in earlier this week with a similar sentiment.

“Social media platforms and the US government must continue to identify and combat state-backed information operations online, whether they’re aimed at disrupting our elections or undermining peaceful protesters who seek freedom and democracy,” the Democratic representative from California said in a Twitter post on Tuesday.

AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
House Republicans Move to Defund OECD Over Global Tax Dispute
France Opens Criminal Investigation into X Over Algorithm Manipulation Allegations
Trump Steamrolls EU in Landmark Trade Win: US–EU Trade Deal Imposes 15% Tariff on European Imports
ChatGPT CEO Sam Altman says people share personal info with ChatGPT but don’t know chats can be used as court evidence in legal cases.
Intel Reports Revenue Beats but Sees 81% Rise in Losses
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
UN's Top Court Declares Environmental Protection a Legal Obligation Under International Law
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
The Podcaster Who Accidentally Revealed He Earns Over $10 Million a Year
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
President Trump Diagnosed with Chronic Venous Insufficiency After Leg Swelling
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
Tulsi Gabbard Unveils Evidence Alleging Political Manipulation of Intelligence During Trump Administration
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Trump Announces Coca-Cola to Shift to Cane Sugar in U.S. Production
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
Moonshot AI Unveils Kimi K2: A New Open-Source AI Model
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
EU Delays Retaliatory Tariffs Amid New U.S. Threats on Imports
Trump Proposes Supplying Arms to Ukraine Through NATO Allies
US Opens First Rare Earth Mine in Over 70 Years in Wyoming
Bitcoin Reaches New Milestone of $116,000
Severe Heatwave Claims 2,300 Lives Across Europe
Declining Beer Consumption Signals Cultural Shift in Germany
Emails Leaked: How Passenger Luggage Became a Side Income for Airport Workers
Polish MEP: “Dear Leftists - China is laughing at you, Russia is laughing, India is laughing”
Western Europe Records Hottest June on Record
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
China’s Central Bank Consults European Peers on Low-Rate Strategies
France Requests Airlines to Cut Flights at Paris Airports Amid Planned Air Traffic Controller Strike
Poland Implements Border Checks Amid Growing Migration Tensions
Emirates Airline Expands Market Share with New $20 Million Campaign
Amazon Reaches Milestone with Deployment of One Millionth Robot
Yulia Putintseva Calls for Spectator Ejection at Wimbledon Over Safety Concerns
House Oversight Committee Subpoenas Former Jill Biden Aide Amid Investigation into Alleged Concealment of President Biden's Cognitive Health
×