In the wake of the latest round of U.S. sanctions imposed on Ramzan Kadyrov, YouTube has removed the Chechen dictator’s channels from its platform.
The deplatforming process included blocking access to the Absolute Championship Akhmat (ACA) and Akhmat MMA channels due to their affiliation to Kadyrov. YouTube’s decision drew ire from the Chechen leadership, who called YouTube’s action’s “illegal.”
“The American corporation Google, which owns the video hosting YouTube, illegally blocked the YouTube channel of the Russian mixed martial arts league ACA in connection with the US sanctions and the inclusion of the ACA in the Magnitsky lists,” ACA President Alexei Yatsenko told Russian state-owned TASS.