Google terminated 449 South Korean YouTube channels in Q2 2026 over politically charged content, with 367 removed in May ahead of the June 3 local elections. The channels reportedly supported or criticised the government, political parties and figures. Separately, South Korea’s media watchdog found Google and Apple violated app-store laws by imposing high fees on third-party payment systems.

Seoul: Google shut down 449 South Korean YouTube channels in the second quarter of this year for their politically charged content, a report showed.

According to "Influence Operations Bulletin Q2 2006" by Google's Threat Analysis Group, the U.S. company terminated 22 YouTube channels in Korean in April, 367 more in May and another 60 in June.

The largest share came in May, just before the June 3 local elections, reports Yonhap news agency.

Per the report, these channels were terminated for sharing content that was either critical or supportive of the South Korean government and for expressing support for or disapproval of particular South Korean political parties or political figures.