Russian authorities inform local Internet service providers that most YouTube access is now capped at a piddling 128 kbps

The Russian authorities have notified the country’s major telecom operators that YouTube playback speeds on many Internet connections are being throttled to 128 kbps — fast enough for normal audio listening but insufficient for streaming videos at resolutions above 240p (which is 12 times below high definition). This information was reported to Meduza by a source in Russia’s telecommunications market. In July, this same source was among the first to reveal that YouTube’s slowdown in Russia is the deliberate work of the federal censor and not, as the authorities claim, the result of aging Google Global Cache equipment. Independent experts have since verified that Roskomnadzor, not Google, is responsible for YouTube’s significant loading delays in Russia. Meduza explains how far Russia’s crackdown on YouTube has gone.

On August 1, the anonymous anti-censorship software developer “ValdikSS” also reported that YouTube playback speeds in Moscow had collapsed to 128 kbps over TCP connections and to roughly 512 kbps over faster QUIC connections. ​​ValdikSS said the traffic he observed was capped “almost everywhere without burst,” meaning that he recorded no temporary spikes in YouTube speeds.

According to Meduza’s source in the telecoms industry, the Russian authorities are throttling YouTube “significantly” instead of blocking it outright and have informed operators that access on most home Internet connections is now capped at 128 kbps.

On Tuesday, August 6, the Telegram channel “Russian Retail and Business” published additional confirmation that the state authorities are responsible for throttling YouTube. The channel shared images of a notification from the Moscow Internet provider ONS24, alerting customers that YouTube playback has slowed to “unacceptable speeds.” The company also warned clients that all Google services might soon be disabled in Russia.

Meduza’s industry source confirmed that the Russian authorities are throttling YouTube through special equipment installed on telecom operators’ networks and controlled by the federal censor Roskomnadzor. This hardware — not the cache servers Google left behind before withdrawing from Russia — is responsible for slowing YouTube playback in Russia, explained Meduza’s source. He added that an internal assessment of Google’s equipment shows that only a small fraction of these machines could have failed after so little time.

Meduza’s source said it’s still unclear how far the Russian authorities plan to take YouTube’s slowdown. Mobile access to the streaming service is mostly intact, though some “degradation” has occurred. Ordinary Internet users and telecom companies alike are waiting to see what happens next. According to Meduza’s source, the authorities might plan to slow YouTube to the point that using the service becomes a headache (while preserving the state’s ability to claim that it hasn’t actually blocked the platform).

Story by Svetlana Reiter and Denis Dmitriev

Adapted for Meduza in English by Kevin Rothrock