He blocked Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
He signed a censorship that Tactoku led to disable its function.
President Vladimir V. Putin has tightened a free look in Russia to the invisible degree since the Soviet era. Currently, he is aiming for the last western high -tech platform that stands barely standing on YouTube during the war.
Putin has not officially banned US video platforms with more than 2.5 billion users around the world. However, the site offers Russian authorities, and the Russian authorities regard this site as an untruffable gateway to anti -war content. They also blamed YouTube to remove Russian propaganda channels, like a video by Russian musicians, subject to Western sanctions.
Therefore, last summer, Russian users have experienced a significant deceleration of YouTube through desktop Internet connections. Internet experts have stated that the sudden drop -off of transportation can only be explained by the deliberate throttle of the Russian authorities’ cautious services.
Last month, the intentional delay of services has spread to a wider wider swing on the Internet, including mobile networks. Millions of Russians who are trying to access the video are too late to read them, or they are too pixels to see.
“This sudden large -scale drop is 100 % artificial,” said Philip Detrich, an analyst at the German Council on foreign relations. “There is no doubt about the fact that this is humanity.”
Broadside results on YouTube have been mixed up so far, indicating a complication that Moscow has erased Russian Internet -made foundation stones.
YouTube has been a standard for many Russians for many years, from old Soviet movies to anti -cremlin political shows. According to the research group MediaScope, about 96 million Russians over the age of 12 and about 79 % of the population of 12 years older visited the site every month before the slowdown in service.
However, the relationship between Kremlin and Google, which owns YouTube, has been nervous for many years. The broadcast of the Sea Ring Virus YouTube has turned Aleksei A. Navalny, a Russian opposition number, into a great threat to Kremlin. His corruption to Putin, which was released on YouTube in early 2021, has drawn out 133 million views in the past four years and emphasizes the power of the platform.
At one level, the slot ring looks like it is working. Russia’s Internet traffic to YouTube is less than one -third last year. Public data Google, the parent company of streaming service, has been released. VK, a social media network managed by the state, sells domestic alternatives in place of YouTube, known as a VK video, and has increased the amount of traffic.
But the reality is more complicated.
Many Russians who are familiar with technology continue to access YouTube using virtual private networks or VPNs. These tools route Internet traffic through other countries. In other words, Google data is not displayed as Russian use. It also encrypts user traffic and protects identity.
The obstruction of YouTube has proved unevenness through hundreds of Internet providers in Russia, and some Russians can access YouTube video directly without VPN.
According to a Russian journalist DMITRY KOLEZEV, which tracks shows through a product called YOUSCORE, in a critical show that was shot outside of Russia, the traffic volume from a speed -down service is relatively minimal. 。 Perhaps because Russian viewers, especially motivated to see the content of anti -clemlin, quickly acquired VPN.
According to YouTube traffic measurement sites, it often dropped significantly, from children’s manga to cooking shows. Such content viewers are unlikely to buy VPN and may be able to find what they are looking for on the Russian streaming platform.
The exact number of Russians using VPN is unknown. Currently, Mikhail Crimalev, an executive director of the Internet Protection Association, currently based in Europe, knows more than half of Russian Internet users or at least about 60 million. He says he can. One.
“People learn to use VPNS for YouTube and find that there are much more things on the Internet than the usual Russian Internet,” Klimarev predicted. “It’s simply high quality, and more opportunities and more access to content are increasing.”
Nevertheless, due to the slowdown in services, many Russians have been driven on domestic domestic platforms such as VK and Rutube, and have consumed at least a portion of the content used to watch on YouTube. It is the branch of the Internet that Kremlin wants.
“We call this phenomenon a sprinternet,” said Anastasia Zhyrmont, Policy Manager of East Europe and Central Asia in digital rights group access. They say, “I’m trying to divide the Internet and build my own ecosystem,” she said.
Russian journalist Ilya Sepperin is advertising a nation that skewers popular YouTube videos, so only political Russians set up and pay high quality VPN. I’m worried that I’m worried about going on the process. Domestic Internet controlled in Japan for national management. There is no opportunity to have a critical political video in the state.
As a result, he said that the video creator was “not reaching the average Russian” and “a kind of information bubble.”
You can see some branches already.
ARTUR DNEPROVSKY, a creator behind the 20 YouTube channels, which indicates manga of Russian children, including the popular Blue Tractor I say by email that percentage is smaller. The project has decreased by up to 50 % in deceleration.
At the same time, he has seen that Russian domestic video platforms, especially over 400,000 people, have signed a significant and rapid number of Rutube, which are signed up to “blue tractors”. I did it. Someone who has a problem with YouTube has shifted to Rutube or VK as an alternative.
Maxim Kats, a Russian opposition party broadcasting a popular political YouTube show from Israel, reduced the number of users tuning his shows from Russia with his channel data from a year ago I saw it. However, his overall number of viewers remains the same, suggesting that some Russian viewers have adopted VPNs and appeared in data from other countries.
Cats on the Russian Federal Nomination list and has not published a video on a state -owned platform:
In early 2022, Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has greatly escalated the collision of Kremlin’s Google. According to YouTube, the company has blocked a propaganda channel sponsored by more than 1,000 Russian countries worldwide. The Russian users have stopped advertising on YouTube on YouTube, and Russia -based advertisers have stopped advertising to users around the world.
Google regularly refused to demand the Russian authorities to delete content. For example, after Putin announced a mobilization of Ukraine in September 2022, Russian communication regulations on the Russian communication regulatory authorities to google to delete 63 videos from YouTube related to unpopular mobilization. I asked. Google agreed to delete only one because the clip advised the use of poison to avoid the draft.
In July, Google stimulated IRE from Kremlin when Kremlin complained of a professional chremlin’s European sanctions and deleted channels and videos. The obstruction of the service began shortly thereafter.
Russian authorities are also hitting Google with an increase in fines.
Putin spoke at the annual call -in show last month and accused YouTube and Google that the US government had bidded by providing political videos to Russians looking for culture and music content. 。
“If they want to work here,” Putin said, “Let me act according to the Russian Federation law.”
Putin also accused Google of YouTube on Google last year, and said that the company has not provided services to Russian infrastructure since retreating from the market. Google denies that technical problems are responsible for deceleration.
Russian authorities are enhancing long -term campaigns for VPN services, which can further reduce access to Russian YouTube and other western technical platforms.
For example, Apple, delete Last year, the VPN score from the App Store in Russia was a motion of rage of international human rights organizations under clear pressure from Moscow. (Google Play, an App Store equivalent to Android devices, which is more popular than Russian iPhone).
Russian content creators, including those who support Putin, are satisfied with being limited to substitutes for domestic -controlled domestic YouTube.
Putin’s comment on YouTube in December has responded to questions from VLAD BUMAGA, a popular Russian YouTube blogger.
Originally, Bumaga, from Belarus, praised Russian alternatives, including VK. But, nevertheless, he asked if you could access YouTube access.
Even after signing VK, BUMAGA has uploaded a video to YouTube. We have been watching millions of viewing and thousands of Russian comments. His account claims that he is based in the United States.
Alina Robgina and Oleg MatsneV Contributed report.