Kremlin censors to block YouTube

The video-sharing platform is one of the few places left for Russians to access uncensored news about the war in Ukraine.

Alexei Navalny’s FBK anti-corruption group used YouTube to publicise Kremlin corruption and human rights abuses. Picture: AFP

The Kremlin is set to block YouTube, the only big Western social media platform still available in Russia, according to a pro-government website.

YouTube has more than 90 million monthly users in the country and is one of the few ways that Russians can easily ­access uncensored information about the war in Ukraine, as well as videos by exiled opposition politicians.

A source close to the presidential administration told the Gazeta website that YouTube streaming speeds would start to slow down across Russia this northern summer. “And then blocking will begin in September,” the source said. A second source in the state security services confirmed the information.

Since President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine in 2022 Russia has carried out unprecedented censorship, banning Facebook and Instagram as ­“extremist” and blocking X. It has outlawed or blocked access to hundreds of Russian-language websites and made it a crime, punishable by up to 15 years in prison, to distribute “fake news” about atrocities committed by the Russian army in Ukraine.

Attempts to block the Google-owned YouTube and its millions of cartoons, films and other clips would be likely to cause discontent across Russia. The Kremlin’s efforts to create its own alternatives to the video-sharing platform, such as RuTube, have been largely unsuccessful.

Rostelecom, the state-controlled telecoms operator, warned last Thursday that YouTube users would experience slower speeds and video-quality issues because of what it said were “operational issues” with Google systems.

The Kremlin denied that it was planning to block the video-sharing platform. Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Google equipment necessary for YouTube to function smoothly in Russia had not been upgraded for over two years.

“There can be no other explanation,” he said.

However, a source within the telecommunications industry told Meduza, an exiled opposition website, that Mr Peskov’s comments were “an attempt to shift ­responsibility” and that Russia had begun throttling YouTube speeds last week.

YouTube was criticised in May after it complied with a ­request from Russia’s state censor to block four videos that contained information about how to evade the draft. It was thought to be the first time that YouTube had blocked videos at Moscow’s request.

Russian opposition groups have used YouTube for years to publicise Kremlin corruption and human rights abuses. A video by the FBK anti-corruption group about a vast palace that was built for Putin on the Black Sea coast has had more than 130 million views since it was posted in 2021.

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said on Monday that Russia should be invited to a peace conference due to take place in November.

THE TIMES