Key Takeaways
- YouTube has blocked over 200 Russian channels, including popular ones, in a move that has sparked concerns about censorship and free speech.
- The move is due to systematic violations of the Russian law, which has resulted in fines of over 34.5 billion rubles for Google LLC.
- The download speed of the desktop version of YouTube has dropped by 70% in Russia, citing YouTube’s alleged anti-Russian policy.
Moscow: YouTube has blocked more than 200 Russian channels in total, and 80 accounts only this year, Russian media and communications watchdog Roskomnadzor told Sputnik.
“The number of blocked Russian channels is only growing. Having started with Russian media, journalists, and public figures, this year the American company began blocking videos of Russian musicians. And not certain videos, but entire channels popular with Russian users. In total, more than 200 of our channels have been blocked. This year alone—more than 80 accounts,” Roskomnadzor said on Thursday.
On July 10, Roskomnadzor sent another demand to unblock Russian channels but received no response, the regulator added.
“Due to systematic violations of the [Russian] law, the total amount of fines imposed by the court on Google LLC over the past three years amounted to more than 25 billion rubles ($241.5 million). The amount of fines for the entire period [since 2021] is more than 34.5 billion rubles,” Roskomnadzor noted.
In late July, Russian lawmaker Alexander Khinshtein said that the download speed of the desktop version of YouTube would drop by 70% in Russia. The lawmaker cited YouTube’s alleged anti-Russian policy as the reason for the throttling.
