Translated material
Meduza: Authorities Notify Russian Telecom Operators of YouTube Slowdown to 128 Kilobits Per Second
The largest telecom operators have received notifications about the slowdown of video playback speeds on YouTube in Russia to 128 kilobits per second on home Internet. A source in the telecommunications market told Meduza about this.
The fact that Moscow has effectively introduced a limit of 128 kilobits per second for YouTube was written about on August 1 by an information security specialist under the pseudonym ValdikSS. This speed should be enough for listening to audio and watching video in a resolution no higher than 240p.
According to a source for Meduza, the authorities have decided for now “not to turn off [YouTube] completely, but to slow it down significantly.” The source confirmed that technically the slowdown is being carried out through TSPUs — devices that Roskomnadzor installs at Internet providers under the “sovereign Internet” law in order to be able to monitor user traffic.
In early July, information security experts reported that YouTube was being artificially slowed down in Russia. Rostelecom said that the decrease in video loading speed was due to wear and tear on Google equipment. At the same time, experts immediately confirmed that YouTube's slowdown was due to deliberate actions by the authorities, and not to wear and tear on equipment or a technical error.
The idea of YouTube slowing down due to alleged equipment wear and tear, the Agency noted , was also voiced by state television channels.
On July 25, State Duma deputy Alexander Khinshtein announced a reduction in the speed of video uploads to YouTube to 70% by the beginning of August. At that time, he said that the artificial slowdown of the video hosting service was “a forced step aimed not against Russian users, but against the administration of a foreign resource that still believes that it can violate and ignore our legislation with impunity.”
The next day, Khinshtein already claimed that the decrease in video loading speed would not be due to artificial slowdowns, but because the company itself had shut down some of its servers in the country and could not pay for the services of Russian data centers. Google reported that problems with access to YouTube in Russia were not related to technical problems or actions on the part of the company.
On the night of August 1, Russian users encountered problems with YouTube . Users complained about difficulties loading videos in both the mobile and desktop versions. Most opened the hosting site, but the videos did not load - instead, there was a black screen. Some videos loaded, but in minimal quality - 144p .