Google Fully Disables Russian Websites and YouTube Creators' Ad Accounts from Receiving Ad Revenue

This week, Google's publisher platform, Google AdSense, notified all Russian content creators that between August 21st and 26th, Google will attempt to pay out account balances to creators. Afterward, these creators' AdSense accounts will be completely disabled.

This affects a large number of Russian websites and YouTube creators. However, once the ad accounts are disabled, creators will no longer be able to earn revenue from Google ads, meaning they must find other ad providers.

Switching to other ad providers might be relatively easier for websites, although the revenue share might not be as high as Google's, they can still continue to serve ads. For YouTube creators, being stopped from serving ads almost equates to no income.

Why disable Russian AdSense accounts? There are several reasons:

• Due to sanctions, Google is unable to pay advertising fees to Russian creators through normal channels.
• In March 2022, Russia blocked Google's advertising business for allegedly spreading false information.
• Google has stopped serving any AdSense and YouTube ads to users in Russia.
• Any Russian customers are unable to use Google's ad system to serve ads.

These factors forced Google to halt its advertising business in Russia, even though YouTube traffic contributed 5.7% from Russia, second only to the United States. Many Russian content creators rely on YouTube video ad revenue, even considering it their primary occupation.

Although these YouTube creators can still continue to post videos, the absence of Google ad revenue means they must rely on third-party ad orders or product sales for income, which is significantly less compared to Google ads.

It's worth noting that even now, paying ad revenue is very challenging for Google due to sanctions, as many banks and financial institutions are prohibited from transacting with Russian banks, leaving Google without a suitable channel for payment.

Additionally, according to AdSense policy rules, only when account balances reach $100$, they will not receive payment, and their account will also be closed subsequently.