YouTube silenced for Ethiopian journalists helps authoritarian tyranny

With more than 120 million people, Ethiopia is the second most country in Africa and one of the oldest civilizations in the world. In a strategic location in the Horn of Africa, it bears tremendous geographical importance.

However, despite its rich history, today Ethiopia is among the most repressive environments for freedom of the press. The government continues to strangle the independent press through control, harassment and arbitrary detention.

According to the 2024 World Freedom Index by correspondents without borders, Ethiopia was ranked 141th out of 180 countries for freedom of the media. The committee that protects journalists also confirms that Ethiopia is one of the best prisons in Africa in Africa in sub -Saharan, where six journalists were detained in prison as of December 1, 2024, making it second after Eritrea in the region.

Since the outbreak of the government-led conflict in the Amhara region in 2023-which has been multiplied by continuous turmoil throughout the country-journalists have faced threats and escalating imprisonment for merely reporting the truth. In August 2023, the Ethiopian government announced a state of emergency covering the Amhara area and abroad. This was criticized by Amnesty International as an excuse for authoritarian control. The Committee for the Protection of Journalists has documented the misuse of anti -terrorism and prolonged detention laws in informal facilities.

Among those unjustly detained is Meskerem Abera, founder of Ethio Nikat Media. Amnesty International stated that the charges against it appear politically driven as part of a broader campaign against journalists criticizing the government.

The same archery is the case of Deriji Habitoold, a veteran journalist who was sentenced to prison in exile by the former Ethiopian Revolutionary Democratic Front system. In exile, the report continued through the Ethiopian satellite network, a YouTube port that serves the diaspora.

But YouTube – Google – is increasingly undermining this task.

According to an Ethiopian satellite statement, Maed Zenachannel (where Habtewold works as a major correspondent) was completed on July 21, 2025, followed by, followed by TV channel from the Ethiopian satellite network on July 30, 2025.

Other Ethiopian media – such as the ZewDu Show, Ethio 360 and 14 channels belonging to the Amhara including Merja TV, Ethio 251 Media, and Ghion TV Multimia – from YouTube without warning or justification. These ports, which include many hundreds of thousands or even millions of subscribers, were a lifeline for independent news, especially since freedom of the press deteriorates inside Ethiopia.

Even American journalists drag in this wave of silence. Salome Mologitaand Hello Ethiopia, YouTube has been banned for more than eight months. YouTube has provided the same just as the community’s standards to ban its channel.

Neil Mohan’s certificate in 2022 from YouTube before the US Congress included a strong statement: “YouTube’s mission is to give everyone a voice and show the world.” This task is worthy of praise, but it should be supported constantly. Ethiopian journalists and diaspora media in the diaspora cannot accept selective implementation of content standards, especially those who are shown to Sen at the time. R-OHIO and the Senate for Internal Security and Government Affairs.

When the principles of fairness and transparency are implemented unevenly, they erode YouTube and also enables authoritarian systems to form global narration without challenge.

YouTube plays an important role in amplifying the voices of independent and independent journalists, especially those who receive the crises that the state’s state outlets have ignored or prevalent. However, unusual moderation practices seemed to be increasingly threatening this role.

By targeting the content in an inconsistent criticism of the Abu Ahmed regimeand In particular, reporting the war on the Amhara region, human rights violations, imprisoning civilians and opposition leaders, regular corruption, religious persecution and the erosion of the rule of law – YouTube risks cooperation in suppressing the truth. These procedures contribute to the information and authoritarian void that encourage them and undermine the democratic values that the platform claims to support.

This is not just the problem of the Ethiopian journalist in the diaspora. Since artificial intelligence and algorithms are increasingly controlling visible content – and what is being disturbed – threatens the unrestricted force of technology platforms is the freedom of the global press.

Congress should take concrete steps to treat this.

• Holding general listening sessions on moderate content, technology executives are removed to explain how and why journalistic content – especially from the political sensitive areas -.
• A transparent request from YouTube and Google regarding moderation policies, enforcement data and algorithms that may not affect the defect’s voices.
• Providing legislation to set clear standards to oversee how technology platforms are managing news and political speech worldwide.
• Passing the decisions to confirm American support for freedom of the press and work with international organizations to pressure governments – such as Ethiopia – to stop the persecution of journalists.
• Invest in the independent press, including training, digital security and tools to help journalists move in control and suppress the algorithm.

Failure to act now risk normalizing a dangerous precedent that global technology platforms can silence journalists without accountability, while authoritarian governments encourage them. When the cashier is actually erased and advertising prevails, the basis of democracy itself begins to crack.

Mesfin Tegenu is the CEO of the Ethiopian Public Affairs Committee.