YouTube was essential to RT’s early success, helping the Russian propaganda network expand its audience across the globe. YouTube’s decision to ban Russian state media channels after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine thus marked a significant setback—one that RT’s Spanish-language outlet, RT en Español, appears determined to overcome. Since its channel with nearly 6 million subscribers was removed in March 2022, RT en Español has consistently tried to circumvent the ban by running its programming through channels associated with its popular shows. Many of those channels have been removed by YouTube, only to be spun up again. Sometimes the shows reappear with a new logo superimposed over RT’s, sometimes they carry no logo at all, and sometimes they use a new name that makes fun of YouTube’s moderators. Our analysis found six active channels on YouTube with overt links to RT en Español. Together, those channels have generated more than 38.6 million views and have more than 165,000 subscribers. While these numbers pale in comparison to its reach prior to the ban, RT en Español continues to circumvent YouTube’s restrictions and has begun to reestablish its audience with remarkable speed
