THE BELL WEEKLY: Russia’s patience with YouTube running out

Hello! Welcome to our final weekly newsletter of the year! This week we look at how Russia is moving closer to blocking YouTube, the country’s most popular video site.

Putin weighs in on YouTube slowdown debate

After the invasion of Ukraine, many Russians turned to YouTube as their primary source of independent information. This was a natural development given that dozens of independent journalists and media organizations had left the country, and that outlets and platforms faced massive fines for publishing stories that diverged from the Kremlin line. Initially the authorities were resigned to this trend and did not respond to YouTube’s growing status as the main source of non-censorsed news in the country. But throughout 2024, the idea of blocking the video hosting service has moved up the agenda. According to The Bell’s sources, there is no immediate plan to blacklist YouTube, but there is equally no reason to assume Moscow is going to stay tolerant towards an “unfriendly” platform that it has already started throttling.

• Russia has been slowing YouTube since the summer, with many users finding that videos load far slower than usual on the site’s desktop version. At the time, the Russian authorities said that limiting access to the video server was a “necessary measure” targeting Alphabet, the Google and YouTube owner, rather than a move against Russian users of the service. Moscow said the YouTube slowdown was a response to the site’s “anti-Russian policy”, which the authorities claimed provoked the server to delete channels by pro-Russian bloggers, journalists and performers.
• Vladimir Putin’s thoughts on the YouTube slowdown were unknown until November. Then Karen Shakhnazarov, director and head of Russia’s leading movie studio “Mosfilm”, unexpectedly said that he had complained about restrictions on the country’s most popular video hosting site in a personal meeting with the president. Apparently Putin said he would “sort it out.”
• At Putin’s traditional December press conference, which took place last week, he spoke in more detail about the YouTube slowdown. “Why block YouTube, if our platforms are doing well anyway? They are a competitive alternative and offer excellent conditions for creators,” asked Russian-Belarusian video-blogger Vlad Bumaga (Vlad А4). He is one of the most popular Russian-language content makers on YouTube with 72 million followers. Each of his clips, filmed in the manner of Mr. Beast, gets millions of views. Yet when putting his question to Putin, Bumaga clearly felt uncomfortable in an unfamiliar environment.
• “Regarding the YouTube slowdown ... YouTube and Google must comply with our laws, must prevent fraud on their networks, must not abuse the internet to achieve the political aims of their governments,” Putin responded, citing as an example cases in which people searched for music but find “things that have nothing to do with music, and promote this or that political platform.” The president also pointed to the company’s “withdrawal from circulation” of certain Russian artists (an apparent reference to the block on popular Russian musicians Shaman, Grigory Leps and Polina Gagarina). “All this is a violation of the relevant laws of the Russian Federation. Roskomnadzor is making claims against them. And rightly so,” Putin said. 
• Warming to his theme, Putin said that he understands that for Google to fulfil the Russian demands, it would amount to a breach of US laws. “So let them work there,” the president snapped. He advised bloggers like Vlad A4 to choose for themselves what they are fighting for — “Not according to some [presidential] decree, but to the call of your hearts, guided by the interests of the future of your children and your country.” The comment about “your children” was particularly pointed at Vlad A4, who has recently become a father.
• It all looked like a set-up, a source connected with one of Russia’s leading IT companies told The Bell. “Vlad A4 asked his question and, of course, that was no coincidence,” they said. “He invited Putin to tell the whole country that YouTube itself is to blame for its blocking.” The choice of questioner was probably carefully considered. Vlad Bumaga is one of the top ambassadors for YouTube’s main competitor in Russia, the VK Video platform owned by the operators of the Russian equivalent of Facebook. Putin singled out VK Video for separate praise. You can read more about how VK is creating its YouTube rival here.
• On the eve of Putin’s press conference, YouTube faced a new wave of restrictions that caused a significant drop in traffic. On Dec. 18, YouTube traffic in Russia was already 20% down on Dec. 17, according to Google’s stats. If we look back to July 24, before the widespread slowdown began, the drop is more than 60%.
• This time the block affected mobile services as well as cable internet providers: according to The Bell’s sources. Based on user complaints, the problems hit each of Russia’s big four mobile operators.
• It is unclear whether the latest slowdown was linked to Putin’s press conference, or how much further the authorities plan to slow YouTube this time. Pro-Kremlin business publication RBK quoted a source on the media market saying that they believed from mid December “YouTube’s [slowdown] will step up and it will be blocked completely, including its mobile versions.” The Bell's own sources did not agree with that assessment of the state’s future approach to YouTube. “Why block it when you can slow it down?” one asked. 

Why the world should care

The YouTube slowdown is certainly an issue for regular users of the service – the latest data suggests that 75% of Russians over the age of 12 watch videos there. At the same time, even if there is a full block, it certainly won’t catch everyone by surprise. Media watchdog Roskomnadzor says almost 30% of the Russian population are using VPNs to get around site bans and slowdowns.

Russia’s economy in nine graphs

Each week our writers Alexandra Prokopenko and Alexander Kolyandr have their own English-language newsletter for The Bell (you can subscribe here) in which they discuss what is happening in the Russian economy. In their final bulletin for 2024 they used nine detailed graphs to explain what risks the economy will face in 2025 in order to continue funding the war in Ukraine.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Our newsletter team is off on holiday for Christmas and New Year and will return on Jan. 13. On behalf of everyone at The Bell, we would like to wish you a wonderful festive period. And we’re looking forward to seeing you again in 2025!