Regulatory body seeks control over 40+ YouTube TV-like channels

PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenia’s Television and Radio Commission wants new powers to regulate over 40 YouTube channels it deems "TV-like" due to their content and audience scale.

Tigran Hakobyan, head of the Television and Radio Commission, announced in Parliament that proposed legislative changes would broaden the commission's regulatory scope. According to Pastinfo, the commission aims to bring more than 40 YouTube-based channels under its oversight.

“Across all available measurements, both globally and in Armenia, the majority of the public receives information through the internet. Dozens of so-called TV broadcasters operate online without regulation,” said Hakobyan. “Many of the current threats—including those to information security, language, child mental health, and the spread of disinformation and hate speech—are primarily generated online.”

He noted that the issue is being addressed globally and should also be resolved in Armenia. “We conducted an approximate count of such platforms based on standards accepted worldwide and in Europe—such as editorial policy, minimum daily broadcasting (at least six hours), programming, and audience size on platforms like Facebook and YouTube.”

“As a result, we identified about 40 such TV-like platforms in Armenia that, in our view, must be subject to mandatory regulation,” Hakobyan stated.