Google shut down 449 Korean-language YouTube channels in the second quarter this year on suspicion they were mobilized for organized interference in political opinion. More than 80% of them were sanctioned in May ahead of the June 3 local elections.
According to the information and communication technology (ICT) industry on the 17th, Google's Threat Analysis Group (TAG) said in the "Q2 2026 influence operations report," released on the 31st of last month, that it blocked 22 Korean-language channels in April, 367 in May, and 60 in June. Channels closed in May accounted for 81.7% of the quarter's total.
In May, sanctions were tallied against 142 channels that criticized the Korean government, 71 channels that supported the government, and 58 channels that supported a specific politician. There were 53 channels that criticized both the government and a specific party, and 43 channels that defended the government while attacking a specific party. In April, 22 channels that supported a specific politician and criticized a specific party were closed, and in June, 60 channels that spread content criticizing a specific politician were closed.
Google classified the 449 channels into 11 networks by the nature of their activities. It judged that multiple accounts were operated in an organized way, masquerading as the voluntary activity of individual users to intervene in political opinion. However, the report's monthly figures are based on the time of closure, not the time of channel activity. Google also did not present a direct link between the activities and the local elections.
Unlike for organizations linked to China, Russia, and Iran, for which it named the backing country or operator, it did not disclose the operators or channel names of the Korean-language channels. Subscriber counts and views by channel, and the actual impact on public opinion, were also not confirmed. Therefore, it is difficult to conclude election interference by a specific force or political ripple effects based solely on the large-scale shutdowns.
It is unusual for Korean-language political channels to be sanctioned in large numbers in a TAG report. From the second quarter of 2025 through the first quarter of 2026, no Korean-language channel takedowns were reported.
Worldwide during the same period, about 18,500 suspected influence-operation channels were shut down. China-linked channels were the most at 9,173, followed by Russia with 2,083, India with 1,778, and Azerbaijan with 981.