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Google suspends pay-based services for YouTube and Play Store in Russia
11 Mar, 2022 / 10:53 am / OMNES Media LLC

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After Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Google and YouTube had recently ceased selling online advertising in Russia, following similar pauses by Twitter and Snap.

According to a new report, Alphabet Inc's YouTube and Google Play store will discontinue all payment-based services in Russia, including subscriptions as Western sanctions begin to pose banking difficulties in the country.

After Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Google and YouTube had recently ceased selling online advertising in Russia, following similar pauses by Twitter and Snap.

"As a follow-up, we're now suspending all of our monetization features for Russian viewers, including YouTube Premium, Channel Memberships, Super Chat, and Merchandise," YouTube said in a statement Thursday.

YouTube channels in Russia will continue to be able to earn revenue from international viewers through advertisements and paid features such as Super Chat and merchandise sales. According to a company support website, free apps on Google Play are still available in Russia.

These steps come after a large-scale condemnation by all major tech companies of the invasion and stopping sales to Russia. Recently Sony announced to cease all software and hardware sales in Russia as a result of the country's recent and ongoing invasion of Ukraine.