Russia's media regulator tells internet providers to stop speeding up YouTube – reports

Russia's media regulator has ordered internet providers to stop efforts to speed up YouTube's loading speed, in an apparent endorsement of government attempts to throttle the popular video streaming platform owned by independent news channel Sotavision. reported later Wednesday.

Roskomnadzor's control and regulatory body, GRChT's main radio frequency center, sent the warning following Reports that dozens of Internet providers implemented workarounds to increase YouTube's loading speed, including redirecting user traffic from Google's Russian servers to those in Europe.

Industry insiders told the business newspaper Kommersant that they did not believe the workarounds violated the rules because there were no official restrictions on YouTube from the Russian government.

However, a letter from the GRChTs cited by Sotavision called on providers to “exclude the use of technologies that distort, fragment and replace Internet traffic” in relation to websites that are “subject to restrictions under Russian law” (apparently referring to YouTube).

Internet providers are requested to comply with the orders in order to “ensure the possibility of immediately restricting access to the information or sources of information mentioned on the Internet”. However, the letter does not specify which “sources” are involved.

The Moscow Times could not independently verify the authenticity of the GRChTs letter, which instructs providers to report on efforts by Monday next week. Sotavision said it had verified the letter with Russian landline and Ethernet company TransTeleCom.

In early August, online users in Russia faced severe slowdowns in YouTube loading speeds after the Russian state-owned telecom giant warned that “technical issues” due to the removal of Google devices from the country would cause slowdowns.

At the same time, Roskomnadzor called on Google CEO Sundar Pichai to restore over 200 YouTube channels of pro-government Russian media, authorities and other public figures.

Since the large-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, Russian authorities have accused YouTube and Google of spreading “terrorist” anti-war content, fueling speculation about a possible complete blocking of the video streaming website.