Some users reported that YouTube had completely stopped working

The video hosting YouTube has stopped opening for some users in Russia, according to data from monitoring services, media reports, and stories from users themselves.

Details . The failures were recorded by the services "Sboi RF" and Brand Analytics . Most of the complaints to both services came from Moscow and St. Petersburg. Also, according to "Sboi RF", problems arose for users from Krasnodar Krai, Bashkortostan, Sverdlovsk, Novosibirsk and Chelyabinsk regions.

• Baza and RBC write that YouTube has not slowed down, but has completely stopped opening for some users.
• Some users in the comments of the Brand Analytics service indicate that the hosting opens when using the Internet from mobile operators, but for others the service does not work in this way either. DTF journalists also did not load video in the mobile application on the MTS network.
• A user from Nizhny Novgorod told the Agency that YouTube is not loading videos today, even from a mobile device. Another user from Moscow said that the site “opens, but has not loaded anything for several days,” and another that “it shows that there is no Internet” when trying to open the site. Several other users that the Agency spoke to said that there are no problems with the service.
• There have been no reported disruptions to YouTube in other countries, according to Downdetector data .
• Former technical director of Meduza and Bookmate Samat Galimov, in a conversation with Agency, suggested that the current problems in YouTube’s work are a consequence of the previously initiated blocking of the hosting service in the country, “its capacity is simply growing.”

Context . Rostelecom first announced the slowdown of YouTube in Russia in mid-July. The possible problems were explained by the degradation of Google equipment in the country. However, State Duma deputy Alexander Khinshtein later admitted that the slowdown was artificial and was a response to “violations of the law by the resource.” Experts with whom the Agency spoke believe that the authorities are thus forcing the service to return to propaganda, and Russian users to abandon YouTube in favor of Russian analogues of the platform.

• Reports of a sharp increase in problems with YouTube coincided with the Ukrainian Armed Forces' offensive in the Kursk region.