According to Alexander Khinshtein, chair of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Technologies and Communications, authorities will decrease YouTube load performance for desktop computers in Russia to 40% by the end of this week and 70% by the end of next week. The move won’t affect mobile internet users, though, the MP wrote on Telegram.
«This forced step is directed against the hosting platform, which wrongfully believes that it can violate our legislation with impunity, not against Russian users,» the MP said.
He also noted that authorities have deliberately chosen the summer season as many Russians are on vacation where they primarily rely on mobile internet via their smartphones.
«Degradation of YouTube won’t affect them, whereas the platform itself will notice that the Russian state is currently translating words into deeds,» he highlighted.
According to Khinshtein, only the platform itself can change the future of YouTube in Russia.
«If the platform doesn’t change its policy to adhere to our legislation, they won’t see any good here. You know that alternative platforms (Rutube, VK Video) have been developing rapidly over recent years in Russia,» he explained.
In 2022, the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media of Russia, also known as Roskomnadzor, accused YouTube of «censoring Russian media outlets» and refusing to delete «illegal and destructive content and false information.»
The agency requested Google to delete content from 101,000 channels on YouTube, achieving zero results. As Roskomnadzor reported, since 2020, YouTube has imposed restrictions against more than 200 Russian channels on the platform, including RT and RBC, accounts of singers SHAMAN, Oleg Gazmanov and Yulia Chicherina, writer Zakhar Prilepin and designer Artemy Lebedev.
