Telecom operators are trying to speed up YouTube themselves

The refusal of the Russian authorities to admit to deliberate actions to slow down YouTube has led to telecom operators independently implementing solutions designed to speed up the video hosting service, the Kommersant newspaper writes , citing its own sources among market participants.

According to them, the number of cases when telecom operators independently "bypass" YouTube slowdowns is in the tens. At the same time, lawyers interviewed by the publication emphasize that such actions of telecom operators are absolutely legal, since the service in Russia is not included in the register of prohibited and is not officially blocked.

Kommersant itself has found at least two messages from home Internet operators in the Northwestern Federal District alone, in which they assure their users that YouTube on their networks works at normal speed, without requiring the use of “additional tools.” At the same time, one of the operators explains that it redirects user traffic from Russian Google servers to European ones.

"Some operators are looking for an opportunity to attract new subscribers before the active season by using bypass tools. At the same time, they expect that liability for them is unlikely, since there is no official ban on YouTube, such operators interpret this to their advantage," Dmitry Petrov, CEO of the operator "Comfortel", told the publication.

On August 12, it became known that 135 Russian telecom operators reported to Roskomnadzor and the Ministry of Digital Development about thousands of subscribers who were terminating their contracts, making claims due to the poor performance of YouTube and Google. The operators complained to the authorities that they could not clearly explain to customers what was happening with the speed of YouTube.

In July, Rostelecom's press service warned Russians about possible slowdowns in loading and distorted quality of video playback on YouTube due to problems with Google equipment. Later, Dmitry Peskov said that the authorities were not considering the issue of restricting access to the video hosting service and added that Russian companies could independently contact YouTube representatives with a request to resolve the problem.

In turn, the head of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Alexander Khinshtein, wrote in his Telegram channel that the slowdown of YouTube “is a consequence of the hosting service’s anti-Russian policy.”

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