Accordingly, YouTube’s download speed to desktop computers via landlines will drop by 40 percent this weekend, and by 70 percent by the end of next week. Hinstein said the measure would “only affect desktop versions” and added, “It will not affect mobile communication for now.”
The MP argued that slowing down YouTube was a necessary step against not only Russian users, but also the management of a foreign resource “that still believes that it can violate Russian laws and remain unpunished.”
Hinstein also accused YouTube of “continuously deleting channels of public figures (bloggers, journalists, artists) whose positions differ from Western views and preserving anti-Russian content.”
Earlier, Rostelecom stated that it detected a deterioration in the quality of video downloads on YouTube, but the operator attributed this to the malfunction of Google Global Cache servers.
Discussions intensified
The Russian state corporation Rostelekom has reported an increase in user complaints about the deterioration of video upload quality on YouTube. The company said that its technical monitoring services have recorded a deterioration in the quality of video uploads, especially in high-definition formats (HD, 4K).
The company warned users on July 12 that it could soon experience technical issues with YouTube video upload speeds. It explained that these issues were due to technical difficulties encountered while operating Google’s equipment in Russia. This equipment is used in operators’ network infrastructure and where traffic is exchanged, helping to speed up content uploads. However, it has now been stated that this equipment’s capacity is insufficient.
Social media users did not seem to believe Rostelekom’s statements, the Noviye Izvestiya portal wrote, with some commentators suggesting that YouTube was being slowed down on purpose.
The future of YouTube in Russia
The future of YouTube is still under debate in Russia. While state authorities have denied plans to block it completely, they are not completely ruling out the possibility. Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy Anton Gorelkin hinted on his Telegram channel that YouTube’s speed could soon be slowed down. “There is currently no answer to the most popular question: ‘When will it be blocked?’ Most likely, the regulator will first apply another restrictive measure — slowing down access speed,” Gorelkin said.
The Chairman of the Federation Council Information Policy Commission Alexei Pushkov also stated that they have no intention of blocking YouTube. However, Pushkov said that Google has abandoned its CDN servers in Russia and this equipment no longer works.
The Kremlin has not confirmed plans to block YouTube. Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia had no plans to limit access to YouTube. However, he acknowledged that there were problems because Google’s equipment had not been updated. “Withdrawing from this market has technological consequences,” Peskov said. (TurkRus)
