Unavailable in Russia, users report

Users all over the country complaining about the difficulty in accessing YouTube, according to the YouTube monitoring website and users The Barents Observer spoke to.

“YouTube is not loading”, “No access to YouTube here at all”, and “Guys, who has the same issue with YouTube?” the multiple messages on the monitoring website read. 

Maxim, a lawyer from Moscow, who The Barents Observer spoke on the phone, confirmed that he was unable to access YouTube for the entire day of 8 August:

“YouTube is a big part of my life. I watch political analytics, sports, medical news, and music videos. I can’t live without it.”

Maxim, who always watches YouTube on his big TV screen, says that he is not panicking and is planning to purchase a VPN service to be able to continue watching YouTube content.

In his opinion, the issues with YouTube are caused by deliberate actions of the Russian authorities:

“It’s a revenge for the ban of the Russian propaganda channels such as Russia Today. They (authorities) also want to stop people from watching the independent political analyses online, which is immensely popular among Russian audiences now,” Maxim said.

After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, YouTube blocked access around the world to channels associated with Russian state-funded media, France 24 reported in March 2022. 

ADVERTISEMENT

Meanwhile, other users based in Russia told The Barents Observer that they have no issues with YouTube:

“YouTube works fine for me,” - Yana from the Lipetsk region, located around 300 km to the South from Moscow, said. Yana, who is a local vet doctor, said that she usually uses YouTube to watch vet-related tutorials on pet treatments. When asked if the total ban on YouTube would be a big problem for her, Yana replied:

“This wouldn’t be a problem. I would then just switch to other platforms such as Rutube, VKontakte, or Telegram. Plenty of it”,

Yana said and added that she wouldn’t use VPN services to access YouTube either: “I’ve tried the free VPN to access Instagram (blocked in Russia), it never worked though. So I got tired of constantly looking for new VPNs that would work. So I just left Instagram for good.”

In the context of state censorship, over the years, YouTube has become one of the major platforms still available in Russia where independent journalists, politicians, and activists can express their opinions and attract large audiences. For example, the prominent Russian politician Alexei Navalny’s anti-corruption investigations have gathered dozens of millions of views.

The issues with YouTube in Russia have been going on for a month when the video hosting platform work has been significantly slowed down. Experts suggest, that after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, multiple independent analytics on the war are seen as a threat to the messages the Russian state propaganda tries to promote.

Earlier, the biggest Russian provider of digital services Rostelekom explained the situation by problems with Google equipment. 

“This is not the result of any technical problems or actions on our part.” - Google replied to this statement in the comment for the Kommersant news outlet. 

Earlier on July 25 Russian deputy Alexander Khinstein commented on the gradual slowdown of YouTube:

“Let me emphasize again: everything that is happening is a consequence of the anti-Russian policy of the hosting service, which consistently removes the channels of our public figures (bloggers, journalists, artists), whose position differs from the Western point of view.”