YouTube Removes Vovan & Lexus Backup Channel

YouTube has removed the latest channel of Russian pranksters Vovan (Vladimir Kuznetsov) and Lexus (Alexey Stolyarov). The bloggers announced this on their VKontakte page.

When trying to access the Vovan & Lexus channel, the service states that "the page is not available."

"Today YouTube has removed our Vovan & Lexus backup channel... Once again, YouTube makes you think that the 'free' site is not so free at all. The American and British authorities are still trying to erase the traces of criminal speech that have long spread across the network. But it is impossible to delete the entire internet. A fish rots from the head down, even if that head is missing," the pranksters said.

Vovan and Lexus believe that the blocking of their channel is related to a prank involving former U.S. President George W. Bush. In mid-May, they called the former president on behalf of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Bush told them that he wanted Ukraine to join NATO and also mentioned that Ukrainians need to "destroy as many Russian troops as possible."

"Apparently, this time our videos did not sit well with foreign authorities, as they dealt a significant blow to their image," the pranksters noted.

Vovan highlighted in an interview with RBC that YouTube may have taken notice of the prank with Bush, as it was commented on by a Western audience. "English-speaking, American users started coming in, commenting, resharing it. So, it is quite possible that the channel was removed because of that," they said.

It is noted that the service did not send any warnings about the upcoming blockade. In addition, they told Daily Storm that they are now planning to publish their videos on RuTube.