YouTube disables 200+ accounts over Hong Kong misinformation

Google announced Thursday that it had taken down 210 YouTube channels as part of the company’s effort to counter Chinese-backed groups trying to undermine the recent pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong.

The channels were removed after Google determined that they “behaved in a coordinated manner while uploading videos related to the ongoing protests in Hong Kong,” the company said in a post.

“This discovery was consistent with recent observations and actions related to China announced by Facebook and Twitter,” Google added. “We found use of VPNs and other methods to disguise the origin of these accounts and other activity commonly associated with coordinated influence operations.”