ETHIO 251 – YouTube, the world’s largest video-sharing platform, has a responsibility to uphold the principles of freedom of expression and access to information. However, for the past 16 months, YouTube has been silencing Amhara voices by removing over several popular Amhara media channels with thousands of subscribers from its platform. This blatant censorship is helping to conceal atrocities that are being committed against the Amhara people, including indiscriminate drone attacks and mass incarceration of Amhara journalists.
As a platform with over 2 billion monthly active users, YouTube has a significant influence on the global narrative. Its community guidelines promise to provide a platform for diverse perspectives and voices. However, the deplatforming of Amhara YouTube channels is a disturbing double standard.
For example, on February 13th, 2025, YouTube has helped Abiy Ahmed’s regime to try to suppress information about a drone attack that massacred at least 29 civilians in Tumet Kebele of Metemma Woreda, northern Ethiopia. By removing their media channels, YouTube has effectively prevented the world from hearing the stories of the victims and their families.
Among the removed channels are prominent Amhara media outlets such as:
– ETHIO 251 MEDIA
– MERJA TV
– AMHARA BROADCASTING CENTER
– VOICE OF AMHARA
– GLOBAL FANO MEDIA
– ASHARA MEDIA
– Ghion Multimedia
– THE AMHARA
– MEREB MEDIA
These channels were vital sources of information for the Amhara community, providing critical updates on the conflict in the Amhara region and human rights abuses.
In the last 8 months alone, more than 100 drone strikes have targeted civilians in the Amhara region, resulting in unimaginable suffering and loss of life.
The international community must call on YouTube to stop collaborating with the Ethiopian government’s effort to suppress information about the war it is waging in the Amhara region.
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