Blocking of YouTube in Russia
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The blocking of YouTube in Russia became apparent from July 2024. The Russian government introduced restrictions that limited the access speed to the video hosting service YouTube within the territory of Russia. The Russian government gave a number of reasons for this, including that YouTube's owners, Google, were not in compliance with Russian legislation and had not invested in YouTube's assets based inside Russia. Other observers suggested it was an attempt by the Russian government to apply leverage on to Google, and to restrict the ability of Russian residents to access material which was not controlled by the Russian authorities in the aftermath of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which started in February 2022.
YouTube restricted from July 2024
[edit source]First official confirmation of the measures initiated by the Russian government came in July 2024 from Alexander Khinshtein, the head of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy. Khinshtein said the step was necessary to make the site comply with Russian legislation, and was not targeted at Russian users. The speed reduction was anticipated to reach 70% but would not affect mobile devices, according to Khinshtein.[1] He blamed Google for not investing in its local subsidiary, allowing it to go bankrupt, and for having overtly anti-Russian policies. Google said it filed for bankruptcy after the Russian authorities seized its bank account.[2]
Roskomnadzor, the federal agency responsible for media censorship in Russia, unofficially warned telecom companies of performance problems before the invasion of Ukraine, suggesting this would be the potential impact of sanctions. The agency started to use deep packet inspection devices, known locally as TSPU (Technical Solution to Counter Threats), which Russia's internet service providers (ISP) were required to install, in order to throttle the speed of YouTube's videos. Meduza and The Bell suggested this was on the direct orders of the Kremlin.[3]
RuTube, Platforma and in particular VK Video were seen as replacement local providers. VK Video is headed by Vladimir Kiriyenko, whose father, Sergey Kiriyenko works for Vladimir Putin. Russian language bloggers, who depend on YouTube's advertising monetisation revenues, were among those caught up in YouTube's restrictions. VK Video, a loss making organisation, tried to attract these bloggers to switch to VK, but since VK lacked YouTube's complex monetisation algorithms the bloggers received a negotiated fee from VK for their appearances.[3]
In their 2024 review of freedom of the internet, Freedom House listed Russia towards the lowest end of the ranking, with five other countries scoring lower than Russia.[4]
Impact of slowdown from 2025
[edit source]A report on the speed restrictions on YouTube by Mediascope estimated that the service lost 30 million active users since the slowdown started,[4] from the 93 million users before the restrictions.[5] There were rises in traffic from other countries such as Germany and the Netherlands, but it was not possible to determine whether that was the impact of VPN usage. Nevertheless YouTube remained the leading source for advertising revenue for Russian bloggers and YouTube continued to operate in Russia throughout 2024 and 2025 despite the restrictions.[4] The Russian government continued to add their own publicity material on to YouTube, to ensure it was viewed more widely.[6]
Article 29 of the Russian Constitution guarantees the freedom of mass media, without censorship.[4]
Workarounds
[edit source]Some users in Russia resorted to using VPN connections to bypass the restrictions. There were other social media platforms restricted in Russia, where the use of VPNs could help users to evade restrictions. Nevertheless the number of available suppliers for VPN in Russia was also diminishing. Other options included sideloading options on Android devices, using apps such as Bilayna (Beeline), and Tor browsers.[5][7]
See also
[edit source]References
[edit source]- ↑ "Депутат Госдумы Хинштейн признал, что российские власти намеренно замедляют YouTube. Ранее они это отрицали" [State Duma deputy Khinshtein admitted that Russian authorities are deliberately slowing down YouTube, which they previously denied]. BBC News Русская служба (in Russian). 25 July 2024. Archived from the original on 14 August 2025. Retrieved 14 August 2025.
- ↑ "Google to blame for slower YouTube speeds in Russia, says senior lawmaker". Reuters. 26 July 2024. Archived from the original on 14 August 2025. Retrieved 14 August 2025.
- 1 2 "Кириенко, Ковальчук и уход блогеров: главное из материала «Медузы» и The Bell о российских альтернативах YouTube" [Kiriyenko, Kovalchuk, and the departure of bloggers: highlights from Meduza and The Bell's coverage of Russian alternatives to YouTube (stories)]. BBC News Русская служба (in Russian). 24 December 2024. Archived from the original on 14 August 2025. Retrieved 14 August 2025.
- 1 2 3 4 Kagermazov, Sergei (4 August 2025). "Летние сбои в Рунете и годовщина великого замедления. Рассылка «Контекст»" [Summer disruptions in the RuNet and the anniversary of the Great Slowdown. (Context newsletter)]. BBC News Русская служба (in Russian). Archived from the original on 14 August 2025. Retrieved 14 August 2025.
- 1 2 Castro, Chiara (26 July 2024). "YouTube is getting throttled in Russia – here's how to unblock it". TechRadar. Archived from the original on 28 May 2025. Retrieved 14 August 2025.
- ↑ "Замедление YouTube в России: неожиданный побочный эффект" [YouTube Slowdown in Russia: An Unexpected Side Effect]. Deutsche Welle (in Russian). 19 September 2024. Archived from the original on 26 September 2024. Retrieved 14 August 2025.
- ↑ "В приложении «Билайна» появилась функция просмотра ютьюба без VPN" [The Beeline app now features a feature for watching YouTube without a VPN]. Meduza (in Russian). 21 January 2026. Archived from the original on 5 February 2026. Retrieved 22 January 2026.
- ↑ "Год назад в стране начали «замедлять» ютьюб. Власти уже давно ведут борьбу с сервисом, но так и не решились на полную блокировку Увы, замедление работает не менее эффективно. Россияне стали реже смотреть видео онлайн — и чаще телевизор" [A year ago, the country began "slowing down" YouTube. Authorities have been fighting the service for a long time, but have yet to fully block it. Unfortunately, the slowdown is no less effective. Russians are watching videos online less often — and watching television more often]. Meduza (in Russian). 6 August 2025. Archived from the original on 12 August 2025. Retrieved 14 August 2025.
- ↑ "К чему привело замедление ютьюба в России Пользователи разрывают контракты с операторами связи, люди готовы митинговать (но власти запрещают), протестуют даже депутаты" [What has YouTube's slowdown in Russia led to? Users are breaking contracts with telecom operators, people are ready to protest (but the authorities are prohibiting it), even members of parliament are protesting]. Meduza (in Russian). 12 August 2024. Archived from the original on 22 June 2025. Retrieved 14 August 2025.
- ↑ "«Если они хотят, чтобы ютьюб просто открывался и приносил боль, это идеальный расклад» Источник «Медузы»: российские власти уведомили провайдеров о замедлении ютьюба до 128 килобит в секунду" ["If they just want YouTube to open and cause pain, this is the perfect scenario." Meduza's source: Russian authorities have notified providers that YouTube will slow down to 128 kilobits per second]. Meduza (in Russian). 6 August 2024. Archived from the original on 26 July 2025. Retrieved 14 August 2025.