Youtube row Russian opposition leader’s video is blocked

Youtube yesterday temporarily blocked a video posted by Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader, calling for a voters’ strike, because the video included “illegal” hashtags mentioning Vladimir Putin.

Mr Navalny has announced a series of rallies pushing for a boycott of the 2018 presidential vote, after the Central Election Commission refused to register him as a candidate. “Just now we found out what was the formal reason [for blocking the video],” Mr Navalny wrote in his blog. “It sounds exotic – unlawful hashtags.”

The video later returned to Youtube, which said the blocking was accidental.