The Russian authorities slowed YouTube speeds to near unusable levels — so why are Kremlin critics getting more views?

Two months ago, the Russian authorities began throttling YouTube playback speeds to near-unusable levels. Initially, this had little effect on the platform’s popularity, but by early September, analysts reported a significant drop in views for many popular Russian-language channels. Interestingly, however, channels focused on socio-political topics have actually seen their view counts increase and are still gaining new subscribers. Meduza explains what’s happening with YouTube in Russia and whether the Kremlin’s plan is working.

On July 12, 2024, Russia’s state-controlled telecom operator Rostelecom warned of potential disruptions to YouTube, citing “technical issues with Google’s equipment,” the company that owns the platform. However, a source in the telecommunications industry told Meduza that the slowdown was actually a test run by Roskomnadzor, the federal censorship agency. Not long after, other providers also began reporting problems with YouTube, and over the next two months, it became evident that the Russian government was deliberately throttling YouTube playback speeds across the country.

Curiously, journalist Dmitry Kolezev, who tracks the audiences of Russian socio-political media, activists, and vloggers on YouTube, noted that in early August, viewership for these channels continued to grow, despite the slowdown. Data from Mediascope also indicated an increase in traffic in Russia to both YouTube’s web and mobile app versions.

Even though we’re outlawed in Russia, we continue to deliver exclusive reporting and analysis from inside the country.

Our journalists on the ground take risks to keep you informed about changes in Russia during its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Support Meduza’s work today.

In an August interview with Meduza, Kolezev suggested that interest in the news cycle, particularly the Ukrainian military offensive in the Kursk region, was “outweighing the effects of YouTube’s slowdown.” He added that over time, viewership would likely decline. But by the end of August, both views on socio-political channels and subscriber counts continued to rise. Kolezev attributed this to the fact that the audience for independent media and opposition vloggers in Russia was more prepared to navigate restrictions.

In contrast, entertainment channels aimed at a broader audience have been hit much harder. According to the analytics company JagaJam, views of new content from major Russian vloggers dropped significantly between July 22 and August 25 of this year.

Among Russian-language YouTube channels, vlogger Vladislav Bumaga’s popular A4 channel, which has 66.5 million subscribers, saw the biggest drop — 78 percent. Bumaga also started publishing less content on YouTube after the slowdown. Recently, he’s been cross-posting videos to VKontakte, where he has 2.4 million subscribers, and has actively collaborated with the platform (his latest video was released exclusively on VKontakte). However, his videos there tend to get 2 to 2.5 times fewer views than those on his YouTube channel.

Former A4 member Vladislav Chasheyko, who runs the Glent channel, saw a 54.4 percent drop in views, while views on entertainer Dmitry Maslennikov’s channel fell by 33 percent. Tech vlogger Valentin Petukhov (Wylsacom) saw a 12 percent decrease, despite posting more frequently than before.

Petukhov confirmed to Vedomosti that his viewership had indeed dropped. However, he believes YouTube’s slowdown in Russia isn’t the only factor, noting that late July and August are typically vacation season, followed by “preparations for the school year.”

Laying the groundwork

Currently, there are two main Russian platforms that are marketed as alternatives to YouTube: VK Video and Rutube. Another option is the newly launched Platforma, a video hosting service that’s essentially a YouTube clone. However, in the two months since its launch, Platforma has struggled to attract a significant audience. Most videos still fail to reach even a thousand views, and many only get a few dozen.

Most Russian platforms allow vloggers to transfer their YouTube content, which essentially involves exporting videos from Google’s platform. However, as journalists have noted, YouTube has recently started pushing back by implementing technical restrictions. Platforma’s tech support confirmed this, saying, “Yes, we’re facing issues, mainly with YouTube — they’re blocking us from downloading videos in bulk, which is causing a backlog in the import queue.”

Advertisers have also been hesitant to follow vloggers to Russian platforms. According to Vedomosti, they’re reluctant to move their YouTube ad budgets to other platforms, preferring to wait and see how the situation develops. This is especially true when it comes to native advertising — a format still underutilized on VK and Rutube.

Nevertheless, Rutube reported significant growth in August, stating that its daily audience had increased to 9.6 million, up from four million in July. By comparison, YouTube had an average of 55.6 million daily users in Russia in June 2024, before the slowdown began, according to Mediascope data cited by Vedomosti.

Vedomosti also noted that since its launch, the VK Video app has been downloaded 20 million times, with its audience growing 2.2 times in August 2024 compared to July. Additionally, VK Video and Rutube are now among the top three most downloaded apps in Russia.

Russian authorities claim they have no plans to ban YouTube, insisting that the platform’s issues stem from its “aging infrastructure” after Google stopped maintaining its servers in the country following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Roskomnadzor has echoed this explanation, though in late July the agency stated that “numerous violations of our laws, along with disrespect towards our country and citizens, justify taking action against YouTube.” However, the agency didn’t specify what those actions might be.

At the same time, Roskomnadzor is closely monitoring the situation to ensure the platform remains largely non-functional. For instance, at the end of August, some Russian internet providers began using their own methods to bypass the government’s throttling of YouTube playback speeds. Just days later, Roskomnadzor threatened these companies with misdemeanor charges or the potential loss of their licenses.

Legal experts say that the agency technically lacks the authority to impose such penalties, as YouTube hasn’t been officially blocked in Russia. Instead, it seems the authorities are laying the groundwork for a swift and unobstructed shutdown of the platform, should it be deemed necessary in the future.