UK calls on YouTube to take down videos ‘doctored’ by Russia

Britain’s Ministry of Defense published an open letter to YouTube asking the platform to take down videos of a prank call to defence minister Ben Wallace, claiming that the videos were ‘doctored’ by the Russian state. The Ministry did not specify how the recordings were modified but stated that in ‘modified and edited’ form, they may be used by the Russian state to support its actions in Ukraine.

In one of the videos, Wallace holds a 16-minute long conversation with a person he believed to be the Ukrainian prime minister, discussing a variety of issues. Among others, they discussed how the UK had supported Ukraine’s ambitions to become a NATO member. Wallace supposedly stated that the UK is ‘running out of our own’ next generation light anti-tank weapons (NLAWs).

The British Ministry denied the contents of the clips and called ‘on YouTube to help us support Ukraine by taking down videos doctored by the Russian state and disseminated to try and sap the morale of a people fighting for their freedom,’ in a tweet.