Meduza spoke about the strategy of the Russian authorities to combat YouTube

Meduza, against the backdrop of reports of a further slowdown in the work of the YouTube video service in Russia, published a large material about the strategy of the Russian authorities in relation to YouTube, from which it follows that their main goal is the transition of loyal to the authorities and apolitical bloggers to alternative Russian platforms, primarily VK.

Recently, President Vladimir Putin said that the claims against YouTube are justified, since its parent company Google does not comply with Russian legislation. In recent days, the service began to work even worse, although formally, unlike Instagram and Facebook, it was not blocked.

Nobody seriously expects YouTube to resume its previous work, Meduza claims, citing bloggers close to the presidential administration: “Too much money has already been spent on alternative platforms.”

Meduza notes that the beginning of the slowdown of YouTube in Russia this summer came as a surprise to market participants, including platforms that the Russian authorities consider as an alternative: VK and Rutube. Initially, allegedly, it was supposed to slow down YouTube only on the home Internet, but since mid-December the service practically does not work without a VPN on mobile devices.

According to Meduza’s sources, the authorities are limiting the operation of the service using technical means at the disposal of Roskomnadzor. This department allegedly receives instructions directly from the Kremlin. When the head of one of the mobile operators personally “tried to discuss” the problem of slowing down video hosting in the presidential administration, arguing about future losses for business, he was directly told that this topic was not subject to lobbying, sources say.

It is alleged that meetings about the possible blocking of YouTube have been taking place in the Kremlin since 2023. In addition to representatives of VK and Rutube, RT, led by Margarita Simonyan, also took part in them. She allegedly proposed the Platform project as an alternative to YouTube. The Platforms legal entity was established by ANO TV-Novosti, the parent organization of the RT television channel. The Kremlin's favorite, however, is said to be the video platform VK. This holding is headed by Vladimir Kiriyenko, the son of the deputy head of the presidential administration Sergei Kiriyenko.

Meduza previously wrote that the Kremlin is betting on VK as a possible “YouTube killer.” The video hosting project, however, faces numerous problems, which are discussed in the new material. Because of them, allegedly, VK is still unable to lure bloggers and audiences not only from YouTube, but even from Instagram, which was blocked back in 2022.

Market participants fear that the authorities, in addition to slowing down the service, will use other administrative methods to force bloggers to change their platform: we are talking about a final ban on advertising on the platform. “We turn off advertising, and either go [to get advertising] on VK, or do something else,” one of Meduza’s sources described the authorities’ strategy.

• The Youtube slowdown began in late summer of this year. Videos from it load slowly for Russian users or don’t load at all. Rostelecom claimed that technical problems arose in the operation of the Google Global Cache service, which helps increase the speed of video downloading for users. Google has denied any involvement in problems with access to Youtube in Russia. Later, at least three telecom operators ( Dom.ru, ONS-24 and Telecom-Service ) admitted that problems with Youtube were caused by “regulation by Roskomnadzor”.
• State Duma deputy Anton Gorelkin spoke about a possible slowdown of Youtube back in June. In July, the head of the State Duma Committee on Communications and IT, Alexander Khinshtein, warned about this. He predicted a future YouTube slowdown of 70% due to his “anti-Russian policies.”
• Immediately after the start of the war in Ukraine, Google banned Russian state media from advertising on its platforms, and then blocked the Youtube channels of RT, Sputnik and 54 other state and affiliated media. From May to June 2024, YouTube blocked approximately 3,600 channels allegedly containing Russian and pro-Russian propaganda. Opposition figures and media, on the contrary, continue to work on video hosting.