YouTube is profiting off of pre-roll advertisements on Russian and Chinese propaganda channels that have histories of publishing propaganda, spreading disinformation, and attempting to undermine American democracy.
A limited Media Matters review identified at least 13 Russian and nine Chinese government accounts – labeled by YouTube as “funded” by a government entity or a “public broadcast” – that have pre-roll advertisements running on their channels. We clicked at least 10 videos on each channel to see if a pre-roll advertisement -- those at the beginning of YouTube videos – appeared. And since YouTube has had a problem labeling individual state-sponsored videos that spread misinformation, we reviewed only those videos that carried the “funded” or “public broadcast” label from the platform.
YouTube profits off of ads that are displayed on its platform; it is unclear whether the Russian channels are part of the YouTube Partner Program that provides video creators a cut of the ad revenue (China-based channels are not eligible). Last year, YouTube announced it will run ads on any channel it wants whether or not the channel is part of its YouTube Partner Program.
