Social media accounts related to three people sanctioned by the European Union for pro-Russian international interference actions continued to show instruments on their profiles even after the sanctions have been imposed, based on a report by Dutch expertise and accountability nonprofit WHAT TO FIX.
Evaluation revealed that 21 accounts on Fb, Instagram, TikTok, Youtube, and X have been linked to Nathalie Yamb, Sylvain Afoua, and Justin Tagouh, with a mixed viewers of greater than 4 million individuals.
Mr. Yam, Mr. Ahua, and Mr. Taghu have been sanctioned by the EU in 2025 for pro-Russian international interference actions, which the EU accuses of taking part in affect operations focusing on African audiences and supporting pro-Kremlin info manipulation campaigns.
One of the crucial well-known is Nathalie Yanbu, a Swiss-Cameroonian influencer and political commentator with greater than 2 million followers, based on the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a London-based nonprofit suppose tank.
In line with the EU, Mr. Yam adopts the language of Moscow and is an outspoken supporter of Russia with ties to AFRIC, a corporation linked to Russian non-public navy firms.
In the meantime, Taghou based Afrik Media, a big French-speaking tv and digital media community, and introduced a partnership with Russian state broadcaster Russia In the present day (RT) in 2022. In line with researchers from the Africa Digital Democracy Observatory, Afrik Media carried out reporting on Wagner’s actions and republished content material from RT.
Afoa, also called Egonchi Behangin, heads the Ligue de Protection Noire Africaine (LDNA), a pan-African activist group that was disbanded by French authorities in 2021.
The sanctions come amid rising European considerations about Russian affect operations in components of Africa, significantly Mali, the place navy authorities have deepened ties with Moscow following the withdrawal of French troops in 2022.
Russian mercenaries related to the Wagner Group and its successor, the Afrika Korps, have more and more deepened safety ties within the area, whereas researchers have documented pro-Russian info campaigns that reward Russia as a powerful ally whereas denigrating the West.
Below EU sanctions, funds and financial sources can’t be legally accessed by sanctioned people. Nonetheless, based on WHAT TO FIX’s investigation, some accounts related to these three continued to show monetization options lengthy after the sanctions have been imposed.
In line with Victoire Riot, government director of WHAT TO FIX, “There are a lot of other ways to earn a living as a creator, and whereas there are lots of providers which are off-platform, there are additionally many providers which are facilitated instantly by the platform.”
“Essentially the most notable of those is the loyalty program, the place the platform really makes funds on to your account based mostly on the engagement you generate,” she added.
The researchers targeted on whether or not the platform granted entry to monetization providers, which in itself doesn’t point out how a lot, or whether or not, people have been really paid. The report additionally doesn’t reveal whether or not the funds have been finally disbursed.
Throughout their investigation from January to April 2026, researchers discovered monetization options existed on quite a few accounts linked to sanctioned people, together with Fb stars, creator subscriptions, TikTok subscriptions, and YouTube channel memberships.
Many of those options have been eliminated. After researchers raised considerations, TikTok eliminated the account linked to Afoua, whereas WHAT TO FIX later noticed that Youtube eliminated the channel membership function linked to the Ligue de Protection Noir Africaine channel.
In line with WHAT TO FIX, X accounts linked to Yamb seemed to be monetized when researchers reviewed them in January, however they weren’t monetized after they performed a second assessment in April.
In an announcement to Euronews, YouTube mentioned: “Google is dedicated to complying with relevant sanctions and commerce compliance legal guidelines, and has carried out related insurance policies below our Phrases of Service. If we discover that an account is in violation of our Phrases of Service, we are going to take applicable motion.”
Euronews’ fact-checking group, Dice, additionally recognized one other TikTok account linked to Afoua that was created after the primary account was deleted, however the platform was rapidly eliminated after it was flagged.
In line with WHAT TO FIX, their findings elevate broader questions on how platforms display creators earlier than permitting them entry to monetization platforms.
“There’s little or no transparency about how these processes really work, not to mention how they really work,” Rio mentioned.
Rio additionally argued that the problem raises questions below the EU’s Digital Companies Act, which requires the most important on-line platforms to establish and assess the systemic dangers posed by their providers below Article 34.
“Our rivalry is that the monetization practices of platforms are in actual fact a threat issue for any systemic threat, and platforms ought to be introduced below Article 34 of the DSA to evaluate this threat and develop some mitigation measures,” she informed Euronews.
“The primary situation we’ve got been pushing for is transparency,” Rio added.
