Ethiopia, Aug. 24 -- Google has shut down 210 channels on YouTube it said were part of a "coordinated" attempt to post material about the ongoing protests in Hong Kong.

The firm said attempts had been made to "disguise the origin of these accounts and other activity commonly associated with coordinated influence operations".

The search giant linked its move to similar action taken by Twitter and Facebook earlier this week, BBC indicated.

However, unlike those companies, Google stopped short of explicitly saying it believed the Chinese government had been behind the now-disabled accounts.

Nor would it share further details on the nature or motivation of the material it had taken down from its platform.

"Earlier this week," a statement...