Amid Russia’s war in Ukraine, digital platforms have taken steps to prevent Russian state media from profiting from their content. The new restrictions have also affected Russian banks.

The decision came after pressure from the U.S. and its European allies, as well as sanctions imposed by the U.S., which targeted some of Russia’s biggest state-run news outlets.

In response, both Google and Facebook have taken action against Russian state media to prevent them from earning money from their platforms, in a move that could have significant financial repercussions for the organizations in question, which include RIA Novosti and Sputnik News.

The companies say they are acting in order to abide by international sanctions imposed on Russia over its annexation of Crimea and military involvement in eastern Ukraine.

YouTube announced on Saturday that it will no longer allow some Russian networks, such as RT, to monetize their content on the platform due to “exceptional circumstances” in Ukraine, which Russia has invaded. It also stated that it has limited access to RT (formerly known as Russia Today) and other Russian channels in Ukraine, a country that has been invaded by Russian troops for three days. YouTube generates revenue by allowing advertisements in the videos.

According to a YouTube spokesperson, the company is taking several steps in response to the extraordinary circumstances in Ukraine. He stated that their teams have suspended the ability of some networks around the world, including “Russia Today” channels, to generate revenue on YouTube.

The platform stated that the recommendations to users will be “very limited” in order for them to select those channels. “In addition, in response to a government request, we have restricted access to RT and several other channels in Ukraine,” YouTube explained.

The policy also applies to sites with articles about Russia or Ukraine and those publishing original Russia-based reporting.

They’ll be allowed to run ads, but they won’t be able to make any money off of them. Besides restricting Russia Today—the official Moscow-backed English-language propaganda channel—and its sister network Sputnik from running ads, it prevents them from using either service to self-serve advertising.

Together, RT and Sputnik were two of the top five most-watched channels on YouTube globally during June 2017.

out of a total of 1.9 billion viewers, RT had 870 million and Sputnik 354 million views for videos uploaded to their channels that month. On Facebook in May 2017, RT’s videos garnered at least 955 million views; on Twitter, in June 2017 RT got more than 5.6 million video views while Sputnik got 2.2 million.

The policy will affect all of Google’s ad products including search results, video services like YouTube, Gmail, and its network that allows advertisers to place ads across Google products.

DoubleClick Ad Exchange, DoubleClick Bid Manager, and DoubleClick AdSense. The change follows similar moves by companies like Twitter and Yandex, Russia’s largest search engine. Both announced they would begin blocking state media from using their ad services in March. That month Facebook said it was updating its ad policies to prevent state-sponsored entities from running ads that mentioned a political candidate.

One industry insider believes this will be a precursor to more widespread restrictions based on political leanings.

What we’re seeing here is a cautionary step to gauge the impact of big tech companies that have to comply with US laws. I think what we’ll see next will be more sweeping action against accounts whose political bias doesn’t comport with that of their shareholders. That is not just Russia - it includes China as well. If you watch Weibo or Youku for any length of time you can see how some of these companies are being used as tools in internal propaganda wars by both Beijing and Moscow.

On 25th Feb, Facebook confirmed the banning of Russian public media outlets from making money on its platform. Nathaniel Gleicher, head of security policy for the platform, noted that "we now prohibit Russian state media from running ads or monetizing on our platform anywhere in the world. We are also continuing to label other Russian state media. These changes have already started to roll in." implemented and will continue through the weekend.

On February 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed decrees acknowledging the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics’ sovereignty, and on February 24, he announced the start of a special military operation to demilitarize Ukraine.

Several major Russian banks have fallen under the new restrictions, including Sberbank and VTB. Several state-owned companies have found it difficult to attract foreign capital. The supply of high-tech products to Russia has been subjected to sanctions. Germany has put the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline’s certification on hold. Great Britain has closed flights to Aeroflot.

In the US and the EU, statements are periodically heard about the possibility of disconnecting Russia from the international SWIFT interbank transfer system, but there is no unity on this issue in the West. On the other hand, there is no mention of the possibility of import restrictions on Russian energy resources.

In fact, the removal of Russia from the SWIFT interbank payment system is certainly a very heavy penalty: even gas and oil purchases would be frozen.

SWIFT, an acronym for “Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication” is the international payment system that allows payments from Russia, as well as for other non-EU countries.

“It is the global circuit that supports bank payments”.

Conceived in 1973, it is in fact a secure and universally accepted messaging system, the standard for concluding currency exchanges, international orders, sales, and purchases.

In recent days Draghi has expressed his opinion on: yes, to the ouster of the Russian Federation from the international payments system. Perplexed Matteo Salvini, who spoke precisely of gas, fearing an upcoming winter in the cold, not being able to pay Russia for supplies.

The Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Joe Biden from overseas also echo the firmness of Mario Draghi.

An enormous volume of money, in fact, is used in 200 countries. 11 thousand financial organizations belong to it and are used at a rate of 42 million messages per day, constantly growing.

Swift is headquartered in Brussels and is overseen by the Belgian Central Bank, as well as by representatives of the US Federal Reserve System, the Bank of Japan, the ECB, and other global financial bodies.

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