Google Europe says it is blocking YouTube channels associated with pro-Kremlin Russian media outlets RT and Sputnik across Europe amid Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
Google, which owns YouTube, said in a tweet on March 1 that the move will take effect immediately, though "it'll take time for our systems to fully ramp up."
"Our teams continue to monitor the situation around the clock to take swift action," it added.
In a separate move, Google's parent company, Alphabet, confirmed to Reuters that it had removed RT and other state-funded outlets from its news-related features, including the Google News search tool.
Kent Walker, Google's president of global affairs, said in a blog post that "in this extraordinary crisis we are taking extraordinary measures to stop the spread of misinformation and disrupt disinformation campaigns online."
The moves by Google came hours before European Union members approved sanctions proposed by the European Commission, the bloc's executive, by restricting Sputnik and RT channels targeted at Britain, Germany, and France and its channels in English and Spanish in the European media market regardless of their distribution channel.
On February 27, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said RT and Sputnik are part of "the Kremlin’s media machine,” and the EU would move "to ban their toxic and harmful disinformation in Europe.”
An EU regulation expected to be published on March 2 and seen by RFE/RL says Russia “has engaged in continuous and concerted propaganda actions targeted at the [EU] and neighboring civil society members, gravely distorting and manipulating facts.”
It says Russian propaganda had been channeled through media outlets “under the permanent direct or indirect control of the leadership of the Russian Federation” and these actions “constitute a significant and direct threat to the [EU’s] public order and security.”
The sanctions are expected to prohibit EU operators from publishing any content from the two outlets in any form. The measures would include transmission or distribution on cable, satellite, IPTV, Internet video-sharing platforms or applications, whether new or preinstalled, according to Thierry Breton, the bloc's internal market commissioner.
RT's main YouTube channel has more than 4.5 million subscribers.
The council also decided to cut seven Russian banks from the SWIFT payment system, which allows for transfers from bank to bank around the globe. The sanction applies to Bank Otkritie, Novikombank, Promsvyazank, Rossia Bank, Sovcombank, VEB, and VTB. The sanction, which takes effect in 10 days, is also expected to be published on March 2.