Users across Russia started experiencing sharp declines in YouTube loading speeds on Thursday, according to online monitoring platforms, coming after

YouTube Users Across Russia Report Sharp Decline in Loading Speeds

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2024-08-01 14:30:08

Users across Russia started experiencing sharp declines in YouTube loading speeds on Thursday, according to online monitoring platforms, coming after Russian authorities criticized the video streaming website for failing to restore pro-Kremlin channels.

Online platforms Downdetector, Brand Analytics, and Sboi.rf noted spikes in YouTube outages in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and other major Russian cities and regions over the past 12 hours.

The disruptions began after Russia’s state-owned telecom giant warned that YouTube would slow down due to "technical problems" stemming from Google's withdrawal of equipment from the country. A senior lawmaker later claimed that YouTube download speeds would drop by 70% on desktop browsers.

Those warnings coincided with Russia's state media regulator, Roskomnadzor, demanding that Google CEO Sundar Pichai restore more than 200 YouTube channels belonging to pro-government Russian media, authorities, and other public figures.

"YouTube is kaput. Nothing is lost," Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of Russia's state-funded broadcaster RT, wrote on social media.