Google took down more than 7,500 YouTube channels in the first quarter of 2023 as part of its investigation into coordinated influence operations, and took down 6,285 YouTube channels and 52 Blogger blogs linked to China alone.
These channels and blogs mostly upload spammy content in Chinese language about music, entertainment and lifestyle.
“A very small subset uploaded content in Chinese and English about China and US foreign affairs,” Google said.
Google’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG) said it also terminated 40 YouTube channels sharing content in Farsi, English, Hindi and Urdu that supported the Iranian government and criticized protesters in Iran.
The team terminated 1,088 YouTube channels sharing content in Azerbaijani that was pro-Azerbaijan and critical of Armenia and the Azerbaijani government.
It also blocked the 2 domains from being eligible to appear on Google News surfaces and Discover as part of its investigation into a coordinated influence operation involving individuals from Poland.
“The campaign was sharing content in Polish that supported Russia and criticized the United States and Ukraine. We got the lead from Mandiant, which is now part of Google Cloud.”
Google also took down 87 YouTube channels linked to the Russian Internet Research Agency (IRA).
“We terminated 4 YouTube channels as part of our investigation into coordinated influence operations. The campaign was sharing content in German that was important to Ukrainian refugees,” the company said.
With inputs from IANS
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