YouTube traffic in Russia has plummeted to just 20 percent of its “normal levels” in recent days, a leading Russian expert said, describing the situation as a “de facto” blocking of the video-sharing platform in the country.
Mikhail Klimarev, director of the nonprofit organization Society for the Protection of the Internet, said in a Telegram post on December 23 that YouTube traffic in Russia has dropped to one-fifth of the levels recorded before the authorities reportedly began to deliberately slow down the service in July.
“Google’s monitoring service currently shows 8.5 traffic points from Russia. Before the “slowdown,” it was 40 points. This means it’s now at roughly 20 percent of normal levels,” Klimarev wrote on his Telegram channel, ZaTelecom, adding: “YouTube is de facto blocked in Russia.”
SEE ALSO: The Throttling Of YouTube: Kremlin Censorship Enters Uncharted WatersSpeaking on condition of anonymity, a resident of the Russian city of Surgut told RFE/RL on December 24 that YouTube has become “inaccessible for some time.”
“I first noticed YouTube becoming frustratingly slow in the summer, now it is simply impossible to open,” she said.
“We have three smartphones in our family and get the Internet from two different [service providers.] We tried [opening YouTube] in all of them. I can say for sure that we can’t open YouTube anymore,” the Surgut resident added.
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Did Russia Block YouTube?
YouTube, which is owned by Google, has tens of millions of users in Russia.
Russian YouTube users have been experiencing mass outages and slowdown in the service since July. Russian authorities said the problems were caused by Google's failure to upgrade equipment used to ensure access to Google services in Russia.
Critics, however, accuse the authoritarian government in Moscow of deliberately disrupting the service to prevent Russians from viewing content there that is critical of the Kremlin’s policies.
In July, Russian outlet, Gazeta.ru quoted two sources close to the president’s administration as saying that Moscow was planning to begin blocking YouTube in September.
The EU-based news website Meduza at the time quoted a source in Russia’s telecommunications sphere who claimed the government started slowing YouTube speeds on July 11.
YouTube said in August that it was aware that some people in Russia were not able to access the platform, but it insisted that the problem was not caused by any action or technical issues on YouTube’s part.
Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin reiterated Moscow’s position, claiming that the YouTube service disruption was caused by Google’s failure to upgrade equipment.
During his annual news conference and call-in show on December 19, Putin also demanded that Google and YouTube observe Russia’s laws and not use the Internet as a tool to “achieve [the U.S.] government’s political goals.”
There was no immediate response by Google.
Russia has blocked major social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.