Russia Bans YouTube | Users Fear What's Next
Russia blocks YouTube! In a move that has raised concerns about freedom of access to information, Russian authorities have apparently crippled YouTube upload speeds in the country, resulting in a near-total outage of the service.
Russia reportedly bans YouTube
Reuters first reported the outage, claiming the country had “escalated its criticism of YouTube.” Users appear to have been experiencing problems accessing YouTube over the past few weeks. Russia initially blamed Google for the slow speeds, which the company immediately denied.
Since the outage, users in the country have been able to access YouTube through a virtual private network (VPN), but not natively through their internet service provider (ISP). The agency said its staff in the region cannot access YouTube; however, the service is still available on “some” mobile devices.
Another report from Meduza says that Russian authorities have throttled YouTube speeds to 128 kbps. The publication added that throttling network speeds in this way is only suitable for listening purposes, but trying to stream videos was futile. Additional information comes from a Telegram channel that appears to confirm that “government authorities” are responsible for the YouTube throttling, not Google.
User concerns about other Google services and freedom of access to information
Concerns have been raised about whether the entire suite of Google services will suffer a similar fate in the future. Just as Russia is blocking YouTube, Google will be blocking it for a while. While this is not a complete blackout in the literal sense, most users in Russia cannot enjoy YouTube given their slow home internet speeds.
However, a YouTube spokesperson provided the following statement to Android Central regarding YouTube's issues in Russia:
“We are aware of reports of some people being unable to access YouTube in Russia. This is not the result of any technical issues on our part or actions we have taken.”
Russia and Google have precedents on freedom of access to information
This is not the first spat between Russia and Google, as state officials have blocked Google News for “unreliable information,” and users in the region have lost access to the news aggregator site due to “material” related to the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Despite Google’s attempts to keep information freely available to users, the company has stressed that the service’s unavailability was not due to technical issues.
Other issues include Russia’s ban on Facebook and Twitter (now known as X) as well as reports that officials are “forcing” Netflix to show certain shows. Netflix is reportedly required to register with the country’s “audiovisual media services,” requiring it to offer 20 state-owned channels. Netflix has also been banned from showing content that includes “extremism.”
From another point of view, Russia is working to protect the minds of its youth in a slightly violent way, and if Russia bans YouTube, it is certainly for a good reason that will not be disclosed, but from my position here, I strongly agree with its way of dealing with the Netflix platform, and I hope that all countries deal with it in the same way; because of the extremist ideas it instills in the minds of teenagers, so what do you think, dear reader? Do you agree with what Russia did or do you have a different opinion?
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