2024-08-03 19:31:38
“We are aware of reports that some people in Russia are unable to access YouTube. This is not the result of any technical issues or actions on our end,” Google explained to the newspaper.
Since Thursday, Russian YouTube users have been experiencing massive disruptions to the platform, with videos loading slowly or not loading at all. During the day, the “sboj.rf” portal registered more than 14,000 complaints. Most of them were from Moscow, St. Petersburg and Krasnodar region.
In the middle of July, the Russian telecommunications company “Rostelekom” announced that “YouTube” may start working poorly in Russia “due to wear and tear of the Google servers installed in Russia”. In particular, “technical problems” could affect “the download speed and the playback quality of YouTube videos for subscribers of all Russian operators,” the company said.
Several experts expressed doubts about Rostelekom’s explanations.
A week ago, the member of the State Duma from the faction of the ruling party “United Russia”, Aleksandrs Hinšteins, admitted that due to the anti-Russian policy, the activity of “YouTube” is expected to slow down by 70%. According to him, this “forced step” will affect only YouTube users on computers for now.
The experts interviewed by “Kommersant” admit that the current disruptions in the work of “YouTube” are the implementation of the authorities’ plan.
After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, YouTube blocked many pro-Kremlin channels, but opposition media continue to work on the platform.
At the beginning of July, the “YouTube” administration blocked the channels of Russian pop musicians who support Russian aggression. The reason for the blocking was US and European Union sanctions.
2024-08-03 19:31:38