In October FREEDOM channel, which is aimed at Russian-speaking audiences around the world, paid significant attention to reporting on Israel’s struggle with Hamas and issues related to Russia’s partnership with terrorist regimes. The Israeli YouTube segment of FREEDOM reached the top 10 countries for the first time, and it also saw an increase in views from Russia. A massive attack by Russian hackers took place on the FREEDOM website in October.
Among the top videos in October on YouTube channels FREEDOM and FREEDOM.LIVE Ukraine’s support for Israel’s fight against Hamas terrorists. In particular, the statement of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy in which he condemned the attack on Israel on October 7th received 585000 views, 97% of them from abroad. Information about the system of Hamas tunnels, their types and peculiarities of underground fighting from Israeli experts and IDF reservists: 434 000 views, 19.3% of them from Israel, 93% – not from Ukraine. News about the IDF fight and the pogrom against Jews at Makhachkala airport received high attention. In general, in October Israel for the first time appeared in the top countries where FREEDOM and FREEDOM LIVE YouTube channels are watched.
An emotional video by a member of the Siberia Battalion about how Russia benefits from making colonized peoples look like barbarians and using them to realize its imperial ambitions collected more than 1.1 million views: 67% – Russia, 7.3% – Kazakhstan. Also in October the next issues of FREEDOM documentary projects aimed at restoring the national memory of the peoples enslaved by the Russian Federation and their decolonization were released: “Treasures of the Nation”, about the genocide of Circassians, the Caucasian War and their treasures, which decorate the halls of the Hermitage; “Decolonization. Siberia – the country of free people”; “People” about centrifugal processes in Karelia. In general, the premiere issues in October have received more than 150 000 views on YouTube-channels FREEDOM and FREEDOM.LIVE.
In October the number of video views under FREEDOM brand on digital platforms of state international broadcasting and partners reached 317 million.* For 19 months of FREEDOM broadcasting this indicator reached 9,2 billion views. The audience share from abroad remains high, in October on YouTube-channels FREEDOM and FREEDOM. LIVE has made 91,2 %, of which 60,3 % – from the Russian Federation, the average weighted index of views from abroad on YouTube-platforms of foreign broadcasting and partners remained at the level of – 78,2 % like in September.
On 5 October hackers committed another massive DDoS attack (more than 3.5 million calls in 15 minutes) on the digital aggregator of FREEDOM TV channel, as a result of which the site was inaccessible to users. The attack, which is clearly the work of Russian hackers, came from the territory of India, the USA, Mexico, Turkey, Argentina, Estonia, France, etc. The cybersecurity specialists of the State Enterprise “The International Broadcasting Multimedia Platform of Ukraine” were able to quickly overcome the problem and restored the work of the site within 30 minutes.