YouTube has filed an appeal in a Moscow court against the Russian regulator, Roscomnadzor, for blocking its content in the country.
The Russian watchdog reportedly blacklisted the site based upon a video, entitled "video lesson on how to cut your veins," which Roscomnadzor claims how to commit suicide.
However, the video actually shows a young woman using a razor blade, medical glue, cotton and fake blood on how to create a slashed wrist look for Halloween.
"We will, at times, restrict content on country-specific domains where a nation’s laws require it or if content is found to violate our community guidelines," said a YouTube spokesperson.
"In this case, we have appealed the decision of Russian Consumer Watchdog because we do not believe that the goal of the law was to limit access to videos that are clearly intended to entertain viewers," the spokesperson added.
Last November, the Russian government passed the new internet blacklist law which is aimed at protecting children from unsafe content by enabling authorities to take sites offline.
The new law allows authorities to blacklist and force websites to go offline without a trial and demand internet service providers (ISP)and web firms to block content it believes offensive.
The legislation will bar web-sites featuring child-unfriendly content, use of drugs, suicides and child pornography.
Earlier this week, a Cairo court in Egypt has ordered YouTube to be blocked for a month after carrying an ‘anti Islamic’ movie called "Innocence of Muslims".
