Russia to deliberately slow down YouTube to punish Google, State Duma deputy says

YouTube will load up to 40 percent more slowly on desktop computers in Russia by the end of this week and up to 70 percent slower by the end of next week, according to Russian lawmaker Alexander Khinshtein, who heads the State Duma's Information Policy Committee.

In a Telegram post on Thursday, Khinshtein said the slowdown is a “consequence of the anti-Russian policy of its hosting provider,” referring to YouTube’s parent company, Google, and a “forced step” against the company’s administration, which “continues to believe it can violate and ignore our legislation with impunity.” He continued:

It’s no coincidence that YouTube is being “brought to its senses” in the summer, when most people are on vacation and are using their mobile devices to access the Internet. YouTube’s degradation won’t affect them, but the resource itself will see firsthand that the [Russian] state has moved from attempts to persuade to concrete steps. [...] YouTube’s future in Russia will depend solely on the service itself.

Russia has repeatedly fined Google for its refusal to censor information that contradicts the Kremlin’s official narrative about the war in Ukraine. Khinshtein also cited Google’s removal of pro-Kremlin content as one of the reasons for the slowdown.

On July 12, Russian telecommunications officials warned of possible YouTube slowdowns due to supposed “technical problems” with Google’s equipment. However, a source from the country’s telecoms industry told Meduza that Russia’s federal censorship agency had begun deliberately slowing the platform. Additionally, I.T. expert Mikhail Klimarev told Meduza in an interview that measurements of Russian Internet traffic speeds indicate that the authorities are indeed throttling YouTube specifically.