Russia wants to shut down YouTube

Since the beginning of its war of aggression against Ukraine, Russia has massively tightened censorship in the country: Now Moscow is specifically targeting the YouTube platform.

Russian authorities are preparing to slow down the video platform YouTube in their own country. “By the end of the week, the speed of downloading YouTube on stationary computers may drop by 40 percent, and by the end of next week by 70 percent,” wrote Russian State Duma deputy Alexander Hinstejn on his Telegram channel. The head of the Information Policy Committee in the Russian parliament spoke of an allegedly forced measure.

Youtube in Russia allegedly only available at a reduced rate

The throttling of YouTube is not directed against users in Russia, but against the management of the holding company, “which still believes it can violate and ignore our legislation with impunity.” YouTube is characterized by an anti-Russian policy, claimed Hinstejn. As an argument, he cited the deletion of accounts of Russian bloggers and media on YouTube that repeat the Kremlin’s war propaganda.

Slowing down YouTube on PCs is just a first warning shot, threatened the politician from the Kremlin party United Russia. If YouTube continues to refuse to give in, the platform will be unwelcome in Russia. Alternatives such as Rutube and VK Video already exist.

In fact, even before the start of its war of aggression against Ukraine, Russia had already made preparations for a possible isolation of the country’s Internet from international resources. Since the beginning of the war, the Russian regulatory authority has blocked thousands of websites in order to silence critical voices.