Russian internet monitoring services reported a widespread outage of the video hosting platform YouTube on Thursday, as Russian authorities intensified their criticism of the site.
Sboi.rf, a Russian internet monitoring service, noted thousands of disruptions affecting YouTube across the country. Users reported that the platform was only accessible through virtual private networks (VPNs).
“YouTube is not working,” one anonymous user commented on the site.
Reuters reporters in Russia confirmed that they were unable to access YouTube, although the platform remained available on some mobile devices.
Google did not immediately respond to requests for comment, nor did Russia’s state communications watchdog, Roskomnadzor.
YouTube remains one of the last major platforms for free expression on the Russian internet, still hosting content from Kremlin critics that has been largely removed from other social media sites popular in the country.
In recent weeks, YouTube’s download speeds have noticeably slowed in Russia. Russian lawmakers have blamed the issue on Alphabet’s Google, the owner of YouTube, though the company disputes this claim.
Alexander Khinshtein, head of a parliamentary committee on information policy, warned last month that YouTube speeds could drop by as much as 70%, describing the degradation as “a necessary step, directed not against Russian users, but against the administration of a foreign resource that still believes it can violate and ignore our legislation without punishment.”
Khinshtein later blamed the slowdown explicitly on Google’s alleged failure to invest in Russian infrastructure, such as local cache servers, a claim YouTube has rejected.
A YouTube spokesperson acknowledged last week that some users in Russia were experiencing access issues, clarifying that these were not due to any technical actions on the company’s part.
Source: Reuters
