Authorities are trying to block YouTube without touching Android

Failures on YouTube may be associated with “experiments” in the work of TSPU or providers - Roskomsvoboda

On the morning of August 8, some users from Russia encountered problems with YouTube. Thus, the service “Sboy.pf” recorded more than five thousand complaints about the service’s website.

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Problems with the operation of YouTube may be related to “experiments” in the operation of technical means of countering threats (TSPU) or at the provider level, and perhaps both there and there at the same time. Roskomsvoboda told Vorstka about this.

“YouTube seems to be slowing down, but not consistently. On the one hand, many people confirm full availability without slowdown through mobile providers, which suggests either deliberate sabotage of slowdown on the part of mobile operators, or the influence of other factors. On the other hand, there are messages from different people in different chats that YouTube is also blocked on some mobile operators in several regions,” noted a Roskomsvoboda technical specialist.

Authorities can try to block YouTube without disrupting Android

The interlocutor of “Vestka” suggested that with the help of these “experiments” the authorities are trying to find a way to block YouTube completely without disrupting the work of Android, “since they can use the same IP addresses.” If failures occur at the level of providers, this may be due to the fact that they are trying to “lower the temperature” in order to avoid mass requests from users complaining about the inaccessibility of YouTube, and at the same time not incur sanctions from Roskomnadzor for non-compliance with requirements.

Roskomsvoboda also suggests that various methods of blocking and “slowing down” can be tested, since in practice “slowing down” can mean different actions - from “delaying responses” to “dropping data,” which forces users to endlessly re-request them.

Google is trying to prevent YouTube content from being viewed through third-party apps

In addition, Roskomsvoboda drew attention to the fact that Google is complicating the work of alternative tools for using YouTube - third-party client applications that allow you to download and/or watch videos. For example, the yt-dlp project, which downloads videos directly from YouTube, has traffic slowed to zero, and attempts to bypass this may result in blocking by Google.

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“In general, ordinary people are “squeezed” from two sides: on the one hand, “our” bodies and the overly active individuals who support them are “squeezed”, on the other, despite the difficult situation, Western corporations,” Roskomsvoboda summed up.

Previously, “Verstka” wrote that the authorities want to replace YouTube in Russia with the help of the “ VK Video ” project, for which they are pumping out Russian-language videos from YouTube. We also talked about how to bypass YouTube slowdown and optimize video loading time.

Photo: Android phone screen. Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto

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