In the coming weeks, Russia will intentionally reduce load times on YouTube, Bloomberg reports.”By the end of this week, YouTube download speeds on desktop computers may drop to 40%, and by the end of next week to 70%,” reads a translated statement posted to Telegram by Alexander Khinshtein, chairman of Russia’s parliamentary committee on technology.For now, the throttling will only hit the desktop version of YouTube, not the mobile apps.This move is in retaliation for what Khinshtein characterizes as YouTube’s “anti-Russia policy,” pointing to the deletion of channels featuring Russian public figures, “whose position differs from the Western point of view,” he says.Khinshtein recommends that Russians rely on YouTube alternatives like Rutube and VK Video.
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Since invading Ukraine in 2022, Russia has blocked several social media sites for allowing content that criticizes its tactics, including Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. YouTube hung on, even though Russia handed down various fines, like $370 million in mid-2022 for spreading “false” information about the Ukraine invasion. Around the same time, Google filed for bankruptcy in Russia after local authorities seized their bank accounts.Following Elon Musk’s takeover of X, he removed Russian government accounts from Twitter jail. Khinshtein said last month that Russia would consider lifting the X ban if it removes “content that directly goes against Russian legislation…such as child pornography, drugs, [and] Nazi propaganda,” Russia’s TASS news agency reports.
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