Russia is at the Internet’s mercy. It’s turning YouTube off

Russia’s Problems with YouTube

In March 2022, YouTube blocked access to channels linked to Russian state media worldwide. The U.S. company said at the time it had a policy banning content that denies, minimizes or trivializes well-documented violent incidents. The Russian invasion of Ukraine was assessed as falling under this policy.

Russia’s retaliation did not take long to arrive. Russians seized the bank accounts of the local Google branch and Google was forced to close its officesdue to the inability to pay employees, suppliers and service providers from Russia.

Russia slows down YouTube in desperation

Russians decided to reach an agreement with Google by force. They slowed down YouTube’s operation in Russia. Russian communications regulator Roskomnadzor said YouTube’s quality was declining because Google had failed to update its Google Global Cache servers in Russia and was unwilling to come to an agreement with the Russian government.

YouTube loading speeds in Russia have dropped by 40% and are expected to drop even further next week – by as much as 70% – lists on his Telegram Alexander Chinsztejn, chairman of the information policy committee of the lower house of parliament. However, the culprit was quickly found.

This is primarily due to the actions (or rather lack thereof) of YouTube itself. Google did not invest in Russian infrastructure and allowed its local subsidiary to go bankrupt, which prevented it from paying for local data center services

– said Alexander Chinshtein, “forgetting” about the seizure of Google’s bank accounts by Russia

Russia Wants Propaganda Channels Back So Badly That It Blocks All of YouTube

Google stubbornly refuses to unblock Russian media channels. Russia has also tried to force Google to remove content from YouTube channels that is unfavorable to it, and due to Google’s lack of reaction, it has imposed numerous fines on the American company.

And this is not the only such case; Russia has blocked and slowed down other social media. On Friday, Chechnya’s leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, even proposed blocking YouTube altogether. Many Russians don’t care about all these games, using VPNs to bypass the new restrictions.