The Russian authorities began slowing down YouTube traffic by 40% this week, with speeds set to decrease by 70% next week, State Duma Deputy Alexander Khinshtein said on Thursday.
The decrease in traffic will not affect mobile users, Khinshtein said, adding that making YouTube run slower was “a forced step not directed at Russian users” but at YouTube management “which believes that it can violate and ignore [Russian] legislation”.
“The fate of YouTube in Russia depends solely on YouTube itself,” Khinstein said, before warning the company that unless it began complying with Russian law, “nothing good awaits it here”.
Russia’s largest internet service provider Rostelecom warned users earlier in July of potential service disruptions affecting download speed and video quality due to “operational issues” with the Google Cache System, which accelerates the loading of content from Google services in Russia.
While sources told independent Russian outlet Meduza that the disruption was part of a deliberate campaign by the Kremlin to slow down YouTube traffic, Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov assured reporters that the issues were solely due to “a problem with equipment that has not been updated in any way for more than two years” and that Russia had “no plans” to block YouTube.
YouTube is to date one of the few Western platforms that hasn’t been blocked as part of the Kremlin’s crackdown on independent media sources following the invasion of Ukraine, with many Russian opposition bloggers and independent media outlets relying on the video sharing service to reach a domestic audience.
The platform has angered the Russian authorities by removing over 200 pro-Kremlin YouTube channels since 2020, including propaganda outlets such as Solovyov LIVE and RT, as well as the accounts of staunchly pro-war Russian musicians, including Shaman, Polina Gagarina, and Oleg Gazmanov, a move that Russian media regulator Roskomnadzor said was “unacceptable” and described as “an act of censorship”.
However, YouTube has also removed content at Roskomnadzor’s request, including at least three videos with instructions on how to evade conscription, independent media outlet Agentstvo reported in May. The platform also warned Russian human rights group OVD-Info in May that its channel could be blocked after it was blacklisted by Roskomnadzor.