Google has announced that removed around 11,000 YouTube channels and other accounts tied to state-linked propaganda campaigns from China, Russia and more in the second quarter. The takedown included more than 7,700 YouTube channels linked to China. These campaigns primarily shared content in Chinese and English that promoted the People’s Republic of China, supported President Xi Jinping and commented on U.S. foreign affairs.
More than 2,000 YouTube channels were found to be associated with Russia, sharing content in various languages that promoted pro-Russian narratives while criticizing Ukraine, NATO, and Western nations. In a separate action this May, Google shut down 20 YouTube channels, four advertising accounts, and one blog on Blogger, all tied to RT, the Kremlin-backed media organization. YouTube had initially begun restricting RT’s presence in March 2022, soon after Russia initiated its military offensive against Ukraine.
Google Also Uncovered Influence Campaigns Linked to Azerbaijan, Iran:
In its Q2 report, Google also disclosed the dismantling of coordinated influence operations originating from Azerbaijan, Iran, Turkey, Israel, Romania, and Ghana. These campaigns were primarily aimed at discrediting political opponents and manipulating public perception within their respective regions.
Between April and June, Google took action against thousands of accounts involved in coordinated influence operations across multiple platforms, including YouTube, Google Ads, AdSense, Blogger, and Google News. Additionally, several websites were excluded from Google News and Discover due to their role in distributing similar misleading narratives.
Google had already eliminated over 23,000:
Earlier, during the first three months of 2025, Google had already eliminated over 23,000 such accounts. With the second-quarter enforcement efforts, the cumulative number of takedowns for the year has now surpassed 30,000—underscoring the growing scale of these disinformation networks.
Meanwhile, Meta also reported a significant crackdown, revealing the deletion of 10 million fake accounts. Many of these impersonated prominent content creators and were removed as part of Meta’s ongoing campaign to curb deceptive behavior and reduce spam.
