YouTube Appears to Be Making Money Off of Sanctioned Iranians’ Accounts

As the US war with Iran continues to roil the Middle East, new research shared exclusively with WIRED shows that YouTube is hosting and possibly profiting from dozens of channels linked to US-sanctioned groups linked to the Iranian government, including many with direct ties to the country’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

The research, from the nonprofit Tech Transparency Project, identified more than 75 channels that appear to be run by entities that have been officially sanctioned by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), which has been enforcing sanctions against Iran for decades.

The channels have been monetized, meaning that YouTube runs ads on their videos that generate revenue. The researchers documented ads for companies ranging from Subaru to Verizon, TurboTax, the weight-loss drug Ozempic, and fast-food outlet KFC. In one case, the researchers observed an ad for the US Customs and Border Protection running on a video produced by Iran’s Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Tourism, and Handicrafts.

“That means YouTube placed an ad paid for with US tax dollars on a channel for an Iranian government ministry,” the researchers wrote. US Customs and Border Protection did not respond to a request for comment.

“The numerous holders of all these YouTube channels include Iranian individuals and entities that aren’t just subject to the comprehensive US embargo on Iran, but sanctioned by OFAC under a variety of its sanctions programs, including counterterrorism, nonproliferation, human rights abuses, or those specific to the Iranian government more generally,” Kian Meshkat, an attorney specializing in US economic sanctions who reviewed the research, tells WIRED.

“Google is committed to compliance with applicable sanctions and trade compliance laws,” says Google spokesperson Nate Funkhouser. “If we find that an account violates our policies, we take appropriate action.”

YouTube was officially banned in Iran in 2012, but it continues to be used by the regime to share propaganda. Google’s own publisher policies, which apply to YouTube, make it clear that the company’s ad tools “may not be used for or on behalf” of parties in Iran.

In 2024, YouTube did take some action, shutting down an account associated with Iran’s foreign ministry. ”Due to established US sanctions, Iran’s state-owned channels are not permitted on YouTube,” the company said at the time.

TTP’s researchers trawled the platform for the names of individuals directly sanctioned by the US as a threat to national security, as well as for accounts seemingly run by Iranian government officials, identifying a total of 84 channels. All showed ads in the videos on their channels, including in-feed ads, in-stream ads, and YouTube Shorts ads.

Among the sanctioned individuals identified were Babak Zanjani, a businessman helping Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps evade sanctions; Ali Akbar Velayati, an adviser to Iran’s new supreme leader who threatened US forces in the region; and Naji Sharifi Zindashti, who is accused of targeting Iranian dissidents abroad for assassination, including two residents of Maryland.

Al-Mustafa International University, an Iranian Islamic seminary school sanctioned in 2020 for indoctrinating and recruiting foreign intelligence sources, has at least four YouTube channels, according to the researchers, including English- and French-language channels. The channels, which feature video courses and lectures, were monetized with in-stream and in-feed ads, including ads for BJ’s Wholesale Club and Warner Bros.’ horror film They Will Kill You.

Among the government entities identified as having YouTube channels showing ads was Iran’s Counterterrorism Special Forces unit, which has been accused of using lethal force on unarmed protesters. Iran’s state broadcaster, the Fars News Agency, which is well known for spreading disinformation and propaganda, also has a YouTube channel showing ads.