Kremlin suffocates YouTube, but the Russians find ways around it

He banned Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

The supervision law, which prompted Tijk to disrupt its functions.

President Vladimir in. Now it aims to barely stand in Western technology platform in wartime: YouTube.

Mr. Putin has not officially banned the American video platform, which includes more than 2.5 billion users worldwide. But the site angered the Russian authorities, which view the site as an irreplaceable gateway to the anti -war content. They also criticized YouTube to remove Russian propaganda channels, as well as videos of Russian musicians subject to Western sanctions.

So the Russian users last summer suffered from a great slowdown on YouTube, primarily on Internet connections on the desktop. Internet experts said that sudden and coinciding decrease in traffic can only be explained by the deliberate reduction of service by the Russian authorities.

The purposeful slowdown of the service spread to a broader group of the Internet, including mobile phone networks, last month. They have found millions of Russians trying to access very slow videos in downloading or pixels to watch.

“This sudden significant decrease is 100 percent artificial,” said Philip Ditrich, an analyst at the German Foreign Relations Council. “There is no doubt about the fact that this is man -made.”

The results of the wide show against YouTube have been mixed so far, indicating the complications that Moscow faces in eradicating the American -made cornerstone of the Russian internet, as the years were seen as very large in practice.

For years, YouTube has been an essential element in the daily life of many Russians, broadcasting everything from ancient Soviet films to political presentations against the Kremlin. About 96 million Russians over the age of 12, or about 79 percent of the population of more than 12 years, visited the site monthly as of July, before the start of the slowdown in the service, according to the MediaScope Research Group.

But the relationship between Kremlin and Google, which owns YouTube, has been tense for years. Virus broadcasts on YouTube transformed the late Russian opposition, Alexei A. Navalney to a major threat to the Kremlin. Its investigation into corruption in a palace on the Black Sea that was built for Mr. Putin, which was released on YouTube in early 2021, has raised 133 million views over the past four years, which confirmed the strength of the platform.

On one level, suffocation appears to have worked. Russian traffic on the Internet to YouTube is less than a third of what it was last year, according to General data Released by Google, the parent broadcasting service. The state -controlled social media network plays a local alternative on YouTube, known as VK Video, and has an increase in traffic.

But the reality is more complicated.

Points of the Russians in technology continue to reach YouTube using virtual special networks, or VPNS. These tools direct traffic on the Internet across another country, which means that they do not appear in Google data as Russian use. It also encodes the traffic of users and protects their identities.

YouTube’s disability has also proven intermittent in hundreds of Internet providers in Russia, leaving some Russians able to access YouTube videos directly, even without VPNS.

Political programs that criticize the Kremlin that were filmed outside Russia have witnessed the relatively lower traffic movement decreases than the slowdown service, according to Russian journalist Dmitry Coliziv, who tracks offers through a product called YouSCore. This is likely that their viewers in Russia who have special motives for displaying Kremlin Control content have quickly gained VPNS.

The entertainment content, which ranges from cartoons for children to cooking offers, has witnessed a significant decrease in many cases, according to YouTube traffic sites. It is unlikely to buy viewers of this VPNS and they may be able to find what they are looking for on Russian broadcasting platforms.

The exact number of Russians who use VPNS is unclear. Mikhail Cleimarif, CEO of the Internet Protection Association, a digital rights group now based in Europe, has estimated that more than half of Russian internet users, or about 60 million people, at least know what VPN is and say they are able to use it one.

“People will learn to use VPNS because of YouTube and they will discover that there is much more for the Internet than they get on the ordinary Russian internet,” Mr. Klimarev predicted. “It is simply of higher quality, there is simply more opportunities, and more access to the content.”

However, the slowdown in the service pushes many Russians to local platforms controlled by the state, such as VK and Rutube, to consume some content they used at least to see it on YouTube. This is a branch on the Internet that the Kremlin wants.

“We call this phenomenon as Splinternet,” said Anastasia Chirmont, Director of Policy in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. She said they are trying to “split the Internet and build their ecosystem.”

Elijah Shippillan, a Russian journalist in exile that makes famous videos on YouTube, disrupts government propaganda, from fears that the Russians who are politically directed are ready to go to the preparation process and pay the high -quality VPNS price will remain on YouTube, with comfort in immigration towards AA TRE Though The state -controlled local internet for entertainment, as they will not get an opportunity for the political videos that criticize the state.

He said that the result will be “a kind of information bubble” where “the creators will not reach the” ordinary Russian “.

Indeed, some virulence is visible.

ARTUR DNEPROVSKY, the creator behind about 20 YouTube channels that show the animation of children in Russian, including the famous “blue jars”, said in an email that the largest studio channels have seen a decrease in YouTube traffic out of 20 percent, projects fell to 50 percent, amid the slowdown.

He said that at the same time, he witnessed a noticeable and rapid increase in views and participants in local video platforms in Russia, especially Rotop, where more than 400,000 people participated in the “blue jars” since the beginning of suffocation – which indicates that some people face a problem with YouTube They migrate to Rutube or VK as alternatives.

Maxim Katz, a Russian opposition figure broadcast a famous political presentation on YouTube from Israel, where the number of users who controls his offer from Russia in the data of its sectarian decisions decreased by 45 percent from last year. But his total viewers have remained the same, which indicates that some viewers in Russia have adopted VPNS and they appeared in the data as coming from other countries.

“People have simply turned into VPNS collectively and continue to watch YouTube,” said Mr. Katz, who is included in the federal list in Russia and does not publish videos on the state -controlled platforms.

Mr. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in early 2022 ascended greatly from the Kremlin clash with Google. The company has banned more than 1,000 Russian propaganda channel sponsored by the country, including more than 5.5 million video clips, according to YouTube. The ads presented on YouTube have been suspended for users in Russia, as well as the provision of advertisements by advertisers in Russia to users worldwide.

Google regularly rejected the demands of the Russian authorities to remove the content. For example, after Mr. Putin announced a mobilization in September 2022 to support his education forces in Ukraine, Russia’s communications organizer asked Google to remove 63 video clips from YouTube related to unpleasant packing. Google said she agreed to remove only one, because the clip advised to use poison to avoid the draft.

In July, Google pushed anger from Kremlin when it complied with the European Union sanctions against the supporters of the Kremlin and remove their channels and videos. Shortly impeding service began.

The Russian authorities also slapped Google with increasing fines.

Mr. Putin, speaking at his annual exhibition last month, was accused of YouTube and Google of providing bids from the United States government by serving the political direction videos to the Russians looking for the content of culture and music content.

Mr. Putin said: “If they want to work here, let them act according to the laws of the Russian Federation,” said Putin.

Mr. Putin also blamed YouTube’s turmoil last year on Google, saying that the company has not served its infrastructure in Russia since it retracted the market. Google denies that technical problems were responsible for the slowdown

Russian authorities intensify a long -term campaign against VPN services, which, if they are effective, can reduce Russian access to YouTube and other Western technology platforms.

Apple, for example, Removed Dozens of VPN networks from the application store in Russia last year under clear pressure from Moscow, a move that angered international human rights groups. (Google Play, the equivalent application store for Android devices, which are more popular than iPhone in Russia, did not do it).

Few Russian content created, including those who support Mr. Putin, are satisfied with being confined to the state -controlled local YouTube alternatives, which lack the same international algorithm, the recommendation algorithm, the possibilities of income liquefaction and the wide user base.

Mr. Putin’s comments on YouTube came in December in response to a question from the famous Russian YouTube blogger, Vlad Boumaga.

Mr. Bumaja, originally from Belarus, praised the Russian alternatives, including VK, which has a deal to broadcast his videos. However, he asked whether access to YouTube could remain available.

Even after signing with VK, Mr. Bumaga is still downloading his video clips on YouTube, where they continue to earn millions of views and thousands of comments in Russian. His account claims to be based in the United States.

Night Labzina and Matsif Oleg The reports contributed.