YouTube in Russia

Video bloggers

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2024

Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Information Technology and Communications Alexander Khinshtein reported a slowdown in YouTube to 70%

On July 25, 2024, Alexander Khinshtein, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Information Technology and Communications, announced the upcoming significant slowdown in the work of YouTube video hosting in Russia. According to the deputy, the download speed of the platform on stationary computers can decrease by up to 70%.

According to Kommersant, the process of "degradation" of YouTube will take place in stages. It is expected that by July 28, 2024, the download speed of the service on personal computers may decrease by 40%. Khinshtein stressed that these measures will affect exclusively "desktop" versions of the platform, not spreading to mobile devices.

Alexander Khinshtein reported that the speed of YouTube in Russia decreased by 70%

The deputy described the measures taken as a forced step directed not against Russian users, but against the administration of a foreign resource. According to him, the leadership of YouTube continues to ignore the requirements of Russian legislation and pursues an anti-Russian policy, systematically removing the channels of public figures whose views differ from the Western point of view.

The largest Russian provider Rostelecom is already recording a deterioration in the quality of downloading video content to YouTube. However, the operator associates this phenomenon with problems in the operation of Google Global Cache servers, which are usually installed on operator networks to cache popular content.

The technical aspects of the implementation of the slowdown in YouTube are related to the law "On Sovereign Runet," which entered into force on September 1, 2019. According to this law, in the event of a threat to the national segment of the Internet, Russia has the right to introduce centralized network management and limit the traffic of resources that violate the law.^[1]

Blocking 207 channels of Russian media and figures from 2020

On July 10, 2024, it became known about the mass blocking of YouTube channels of Russian media and public figures. According to Roskomnadzor, since 2020, video hosting has limited access to 207 Russian Internet pages, of which 83 have been blocked only since the beginning of 2024.

According to TASS, among the blocked channels were Soloviev LIVE, Crimea-24, RT, RBC, NTV, the official channel of the Federation Council, as well as the accounts of famous musicians, writers and athletes. In particular, the YouTube restrictions included the pages of Shaman, Polina Gagarina, Oleg Gazmanov, Grigory Leps, Yulia Chicherina, Zakhar Prilepin and Olympic champion Nikita Nagorny.

YouTube has blocked 207 channels of Russian media and figures since 2020

According to representatives of Roskomnadzor, YouTube's actions violate the principles of free dissemination of information and are an act of censorship. The agency recalled responsibility for ignoring warnings about the violation of the rights of Russians on the network. Fines for such violations can range from 1/20 to 1/10 of the total revenue of the company for 2022, but at least 4 million rubles. In case of repeated violation, the amount of the fine increases to 1/10 - 1/5 of annual revenue, but at least 8 million rubles.

In addition, Roskomnadzor also noted that more than 61.3 thousand prohibited materials containing inaccurate information about a special military operation, extremist materials and propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations remain unrepaired on video hosting. According to the law, the owner of the Internet resource is obliged to remove illegal content within 24 hours from the date of receipt of the requirement of Roskomnadzor, and in some cases immediately.

Administrative liability is provided for non-removal of prohibited content. In case of repeated violation, fines can reach 20% of the annual revenue of the Internet company.^[2]

Blocking TV channels in 40 Russian regions

On February 6, 2024, the St. Petersburg branch of the Union of Journalists of Russia announced the blocking of more than 40 regional state and radio companies (subsidiaries of the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company). In particular, branch channels are not available in Kursk and Belgorod, Rostov-on-Don and Dagestan, in Yekaterinburg and Perm, etc.

Almost simultaneously, YouTube channels of other VGTRK branches were blocked - only over forty. Judging by reports from the regions, YouTube channels of the State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company of the Arkhangelsk, Murmansk, Novgorod, Pskov regions, the Republic of Karelia and the Republic of Komi are blocked in the North-Western Federal District, the St. Petersburg branch of the Union of Journalists of Russia said.

All video material of the blocked VGTRK TV channels can be found on the We look"" platform and on the official website of the television and radio company. Also, the channels of the regional State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company, which have been blocked, YouTube are available on, Rutube according to the Telegram channel of the Russian video hosting. They are displayed through an updated search on Rutube.

According to RT, the YouTube administration did not explain the reason for blocking the channels, but the employees of the State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company believe that the point is in the political position of video hosting, contrary to the information policy of Russian publications.

The head of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Alexander Khinshtein, called the blocking of numerous regional GTRK channels on YouTube an instrument of information warfare with Russia.

YouTube methodically burns out a point of view objectionable to its patrons - do you feel like a smell of vaunted American freedom of speech and democracy? I suggest that colleagues with the State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company go along the path we have beaten so that the money of our American "partners" is finally sent in a truly peaceful direction, "Khinshtein wrote in his Telegram channel.[3]

2023: Telegram beats YouTube for the first time in daily audience in Russia

The daily Russian audience of the messenger in March 2023 amounted to 50.9 million people, video hosting - 50.7 million. The growth of Telegram's daily audience since January 2022 was plus 104%.

2022

Revenues of the top 10 Russian video bloggers on YouTube fell by 12.5% to 1.1 billion rubles

The total advertising revenues of the top 10 Russian video bloggers on YouTube in 2022 reached 1.1 billion rubles, which is 12.45%, or 155.9 million rubles, less than a year earlier, when earnings were measured at 1.25 billion rubles. This is evidenced by the data of the Association of Bloggers and Agencies (ABA), which were released in early March 2023. Read more here

Google blocked the YouTube channel "Rostec"

Google blocked the Rostec YouTube channel, as reported by the Russian state corporation on August 7, 2022. Restrictions introduced due to sanctions. Read more here

Fine of 2 billion rubles for violation of antimonopoly legislation

On July 26, 2022, the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) of Russia announced the imposition of a fine on Google in the amount of 2 billion rubles for the company's abuse of the dominant position of YouTube in terms of blocking accounts.

According to the regulator, it found that the rules related to the formation, suspension, blocking of accounts and circulation of user content on YouTube are opaque, biased and unpredictable.

This leads to sudden blocking and deletion of user accounts without warning and justification. The FAS found that such behavior infringes on the interests of users, and also limits competition in related markets, the antimonopoly service said.

The FAS added that after a comprehensive study of the circumstances of the case, the service commission found the company guilty of abuse of its dominant position in the YouTube video hosting services market. Google will have to pay the fine within two months of the entry into force of the document on the imposition of the fine. Punishment for violation is provided for in Part 2 of Art. 14.31 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation.

In early May 2022, it became known that Google challenged the decision of the FAS, which recognized the company as a violator of the law due to opaque blocking rules on YouTube.

At the same time, Ivan Samoilenko, managing partner of the B&C Agency, said that, on the one hand, the FAS position is obvious, since the company is obliged to directly identify the requirements for which certain materials are removed. He expressed the opinion that Google's position is based on the fact that the company can make decisions at its discretion, including those that infringe on the rights of citizens of a particular country. Thus, the corporation assumes the right to assess the correctness of a particular point of view, the specialist added.^[4]

Removal of 105 thousand prohibited materials at the request of Roskomnadzor

On July 19, 2022, Roskomnadzor announced the removal of more than 105 thousand prohibited materials on YouTube at the request of the department. At the same time, video hosting still stores a large amount of content prohibited in Russia.

We see that YouTube is conducting targeted destructive work in the Russian information field, both in terms of the distribution of illegal content and in terms of censoring user accounts and the media. We do not really understand the principles by which this is done, but this happens as the site wants, "says Evgeny Zaytsev, head of the electronic communications control and supervision department of Roskomnadzor. - There are thousands of non-deleted, really dangerous materials that the site for some reason does not remove.

According to Zaytsev, Google its subsidiaries, including YouTube, are regularly brought to administrative responsibility due to the refusal to remove prohibited information. So, by July 19, 2022, the total amount of fines issued by Google in Russia for such offenses exceeds 28 billion. rubles

In early April 2022, Roskomnadzor announced that YouTube had ignored demands to remove more than 10,000 extremist materials. By that time, Roskomnadzor had drawn up and sent to court 22 protocols against Google (owns YouTube) for non-deletion of prohibited information.

According to Olga Kovitidi, a member of the Federation Council Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Construction, YouTube can block citizens of any country for supporting Russia.

At the same time, aggressive speeches against Russia are not prohibited. This policy of YouTube, as well as Google, raises fair questions, in particular, about the future of these companies in Russia, - said Kovitidi.[5]

The Union of Journalists of Russia demands to "take action" against Google and Youtube

The Union of Journalists of Russia intends to appeal to the Russian Foreign Ministry, the Prosecutor General's Office and Roskomnadzor with a request to take measures against Google and YouTube due to censorship. This became known on March 24, 2022 from the words of the head of the SJR Vladimir Solovyov. Read more here

Roskomnadzor demands to stop spreading threats to citizens of the Russian Federation

On March 18, 2022 Roskomnadzor , he demanded that Google LLC immediately stop spreading threats to citizens on RUSSIAN FEDERATION video hosting. YouTube

Earlier it became known that YouTube video hosting users are broadcasting commercials calling for the disabling of railway communications between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus. The actions of the YouTube administration are terrorist in nature and threaten the life and health of Russian citizens.

The spread of such calls clearly demonstrates the anti-Russian position of the American company Google LLC., - said in a statement of the department. - Roskomnadzor is categorically against such advertising campaigns and requires Google LLC to stop broadcasting anti-Russian videos as soon as possible[6].

YouTube began blocking state media

YouTube started blocking. state MEDIA This became known on March 11, 2022.

All content about the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine, which "violates its policy," will also be removed.

The reason for such a decision was "guidelines" that prohibit "downplaying" the significance of documented "violent events," the statement said.

We immediately begin blocking access to channels associated with Russian state media around the world, the statement said.

Earlier, YouTube completely suspended monetization for users from Russia, and also banned Russian users from connecting Premium and YouTube Music subscriptions.

This means that the authors of YouTube will temporarily stop receiving income from these functions in Russia, the message said. Until when monetization and other YouTube functions will be suspended, it was not specified.

The regulatory backlash in Russia is not yet known, but Yotube is expected to be blocked soon.

As it became known earlier State Office of Public Prosecutor demanded to recognize the company as an " Meta extremist organization," as a result of which access social network Instagram^[7] was promptly blocked^[8]

FAS recognized Google as a violator of antitrust laws due to opaque blocking rules on YouTube

In February 2022, the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Russian Federation found Google guilty of violating antimonopoly laws due to opaque blocking rules on YouTube, the amount of the fine will be determined later.

"The rules related to the formation, suspension, blocking of accounts and the circulation of user content on YouTube are opaque, biased and unpredictable. This leads to sudden blocking and deletion of user accounts without warning or justification. "

2021: Introduction of taxes on the income of Russian YouTube bloggers

In March 2021, Google announced the introduction of taxes on the income of YouTube bloggers, including Russian ones. The following statement has been published on the company's website:

From June 2021, Google may begin withholding U.S. taxes from your YouTube revenue generated in that country. In this regard, we ask you to provide tax information in AdSense as soon as possible. If you do not provide the necessary information by May 31, 2021, your income generated in all countries may begin to withhold tax at a rate of 24%.

The company substantiated its requirements with changes in American tax law that oblige to withhold taxes on income received from viewers from the United States.

Google intends to tax the income received by bloggers from viewing content in the United States. We are talking about profits, including from advertising views, YouTube Premium service, super chat and sponsorship.

The size can range from 0% to 30%, depending on the existence of a double taxation agreement between countries. At the same time, Google notes that such an agreement is valid between the United States and Russia, so the rate may be zero. However, if the blogger does not provide the requested information on time, all his income from YouTube will be automatically taxed at 24%, and from the entire amount, and not only from income at the expense of viewers from the United States.

The innovation became known after in March 2021, the Ministry of Digital Development proposed to oblige foreign companies to pay personal income tax for Russian bloggers who earn on advertising, in particular on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok. The change should be enshrined in federal law, its project is planned to be prepared by the middle of this year, according to the list of measures to support the Russian IT industry.^[9]

2020

YouTube, Twitter and Instagram in Russia will be fined 20% of annual revenue for refusing to remove illegal content

On December 23, 2020, the State Duma in the third final reading adopted a law on large fines for social networks and other Internet services for refusing to remove illegal content. Read more here.

YouTube could face fine of up to one-fifth of annual revenue for failing to remove banned content

On December 18, 2020, it became known that YouTube Facebook it would face a fine of up to one fifth of annual revenue for repeated failure to comply with the requirement to remove the prohibited in. RUSSIAN FEDERATION content Amendments to the relevant bill approved. State Duma Committee on Information Policy

The amendments spell out fines: for citizens - from 100 thousand to 200 thousand rubles, for officials - from 500 thousand to 800 thousand rubles, for legal entities - from one twentieth to one tenth of the amount of revenue received for the year.

At the same time, the amendments tie to the level of income and fines for failure to take measures to restrict access or non-deletion of information with calls for extremism and publications with child pornography. Fines: for citizens - from 200 thousand to 500 thousand rubles, for officials - from 800 thousand to 1 million rubles, for legal entities - from one tenth to one fifth of the amount of revenue.

The text of the amendments states that 10,482 pages with prohibited information were not removed from YouTube, contrary to the requirements of Roskomnadzor, by April 2020, from Twitter - 1462, from Instagram - 1435, from Facebook - 362.

Russia may allow blocking YouTube and Facebook

On November 19, 2020, information appeared that a bill was submitted to the State Duma of the Russian Federation, allowing, by decision of the Prosecutor General, to block resources caught in censorship.

In Russia, it may be allowed at the legislative level to block YouTube, Facebook and other services for censorship. The corresponding bill was introduced by Senator Alexei Pushkov and six deputies and will soon be considered by the State Duma of the Russian Federation.

According to Bill No. 1058572-7 "On Measures to Influence Persons Involved in Violations of Fundamental Human Rights and Freedoms, Rights and Freedoms of Citizens of the Russian Federation," information resources that discriminate against materials of the Russian media may be blocked by decision of the Prosecutor General. Blocking is also possible if the Internet resource restricts access "to socially important information on the basis of nationality, language or in connection with the imposition of sanctions against Russia or its citizens."

The bill introduces the status of "the owner of an information resource involved in violations of fundamental human rights and freedoms, rights and freedoms of Russian citizens." This status will be assigned to companies by the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation in agreement with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Full or partial blocking of guilty resources will be able to be carried out Roskomnadzor using hardware systems on the networks of telecom operators.

According to the document, if the owner of the resource ceases to restrict the content of the Russian media or other socially important information on any discriminatory basis, the blocking can be lifted. Roskomnadzor will inform the prosecutor general that the site no longer violates the law, and it will be able to initiate the lifting of restrictions.^[10]

A court in Moscow ordered Google to lift restrictions on watching the film "Beslan" on YouTube

The Tagansky court of Moscow satisfied on October 22 the claim of the Moscow prosecutor's office against Google LLC to lift restrictions on watching the film "Beslan" by Alexander Rogatkin on the YouTube portal. This was reported to TASS by the press service of the court^[11].

"By the decision of the Tagansky District Court, the claims of the Moscow Prosecutor were satisfied. By this decision, the court ordered Google LLC to restore the violated rights of an indefinite circle of persons, eliminating restrictions on access to the documentary film "Beslan" by author Alexander Rogatkin, "the court spokesman said.

The Moscow prosecutor filed a lawsuit against Google LLC, demanding to restore the violated rights of citizens. The plaintiff insisted on eliminating restrictions on watching the Beslan documentary by Alexander Rogatkin (broadcast on the Russia-1 TV channel) in the form of authorization and warnings about the "inadmissibility of the content" of the video material.

As the head of the press service of the Moscow prosecutor's office Lyudmila Nefedova explained to TASS, the documentary was posted on a video hosting in compliance with the requirements of the Internet service, and the description of the video contains detailed information about its content. "In the Russian Federation, information is freely disseminated subject to the requirements established by the legislation of the Russian Federation. Thus, actions to restrict free viewing of the film are discriminatory, violate the constitutional rights of citizens of the Russian Federation to search for and receive information about socially important events, "she said. In this regard, Moscow Prosecutor Denis Popov appealed to the court with a statement of claim.

Google announced its disagreement with the court's decision to lift restrictions on watching the Beslan movie on YouTube.

Blocking the TV channel "Tsargrad"

In 2020, Google blocked the YouTube account of the Tsargrad TV channel, owned by Konstantin Malofeev. The company itself explained this decision by the fact that Malofeev is on the US sanctions lists. The Russian court recognized that the company should fully restore the YouTube channel in the form in which it was before removal, otherwise it will be charged a penalty of 100,000 rubles a day and increase weekly in a progressive manner, while within nine months after the decision comes into force, the maximum amount cannot exceed 1 billion rubles.

2019

Advertising costs in online videos rose to 13 billion rubles. YouTube share over 30%

Advertisers' expenses on online videos are growing much faster than the entire advertising market, in 2019 they amounted to 13 billion rubles. "At the same time, the share of YouTube, according to our estimates, is at least 30% of advertising in online videos," said Daria Kurkina, CEO of Carat.

YouTube channels of Russian-speaking children have become one of the main trends

At the end of December 2019, Business Insider compiled a list of the fastest growing YouTube channels, on which, according to the social media analytics site Social Blade, more than 10 million subscribers were registered. This year, the projects of several Russian-speaking children got into the top YouTube. Diana's channel from Kyiv Kids Diana Show is in fourth place on the top (40 million subscribers), and Nastya Radzinskaya with two channels takes third and 15th positions. Read more here.

Mediascope: more than 9.8 million Russians use the YouTube application every day

The daily audience of the YouTube mobile application among Russians aged 12 to 64 years living in cities with a population of more than 100 thousand people is more than 9.8 million. The monthly audience of this application exceeds 28.9 million Russians.

Such data are provided by Mediascope, writes Forbes in August 2019. Analysts also found that the Russian audience of the YouTube application spends approximately 35 minutes a day in it. According to this indicator, it ranks 4, behind the games Gardenscapes (46 minutes a day) and Homescapes (41 minutes), as well as the e-book reader FBreader (40 minutes).

The rating also includes the TikTok social network application, which allows you to create short videos. Its daily audience is 432 thousand Russians, and its monthly audience is more than 1.7 million. The average time that users spend in it is 18 minutes a day.

2018: The richest YouTube bloggers in Russia - RIAB

The Russian Bloggers Research Agency (RIAB) conducted a study and compiled a rating, which included 15 YouTube bloggers in the Russian Federation with the highest incomes in 2018. Read more here.

2015: Kazan programmer saves YouTube from chaos

On April 2, 2015, it became known about the participation of a programmer from Kazan in eliminating a vulnerability on the YouTube service. Kamil Khismatullin discovered a bug that allowed removing videos from the channels of any user of this video hosting^[12].

YouTube specialists promptly eliminated a vulnerability that allowed users who did not have privileges to delete any other people's videos. A logical error in the hosting management mechanism could lead to the loss of unpredictably large volumes in a very short time.

Kamil Khismatullin, a specialist from Kazan, was able to detect the vulnerability. He is one of the experts Google engages in through Vulnerability Research Grants.

While researching YouTube Creator Studio, Camille discovered a logical error in the video broadcasting system: its existence allowed deleting any video on the service, using only the token of his session as an authorization key. As confirmation of the vulnerability found, he published a video showing the process of deleting his own video without an authorization procedure on YouTube. According to Camille, he overcame the desire to remove the video from the channel of the popular Canadian artist Justin Bieber.

The expert himself assessed this bug as simple, and his search was initially aimed at CSRF or XSS vulnerabilities. YouTube security specialists quickly responded to the bug-report and made the necessary changes.

Kamil Khismatullin regularly takes part in Google Vulnerability Research Grants vulnerability search programs. As part of the program, experts receive messages with a proposal to search for vulnerabilities on several resources offered by Google. The main goal of the program is to support research and search for vulnerabilities, and the expert's work is rewarded (Camille received $1337), even if not a single vulnerability was found. However, if a vulnerability is discovered, the finder receives not only compensation, but also a grant as a prize. Google eliminated the vulnerability in a few hours and paid the researcher a reward of $5 thousand.

Video showing how to delete video content, 2015

2017: Russia demands YouTube remove videos - and does so more and more. Schedule

Google reported on requests from states demanding the removal of YouTube videos. As it turned out, Russia is increasingly demanding that the service delete videos - and many times more often^[13].

See also Censorship (control) on the Internet. Experience of Russia

2012: Blocking for the film "Innocence of Muslims"

In September 2012, the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation sent a lawsuit to the Tverskoy Court of Moscow to recognize the American film "Innocence of Muslims" hosted on YouTube as extremist, which caused serious protests from the Muslim public around the world. Without waiting for a court decision, the prosecutor's office has already begun sending warnings to large Internet providers about the inadmissibility of distributing extremist materials.

The corresponding letter was received by Megafon. It lists the addresses of specific users - both YouTube and other video hosting sites. "Megaphone" complied with this order.

A letter from the Prosecutor General's Office also came to Rostelecom, but the company does not say whether there are addresses of specific users. In any case, the technical capabilities of Rostelecom allow blocking Internet resources only by IP addresses, said company representative Kira Kiryukhina. That is, Rostelecom will be able to block only the entire YouTube, and not its individual users.

2010: Start of video advertising sales in Russia

In August 2010, it became known that Google is starting selling Russian video ads on its Youtube video hosting. Market participants believe that the project will be successful: Youtube is a large platform, and advertising on regular TV is practically bought out by the end of the year.

Google has launched a new advertising format on the Russian market - videos on Youtube video hosting, a source in the media company said and confirmed the head of the Russian office of Google Vladimir Dolgov. According to the first, in mid-July 2010, a test campaign was held on the Youtube portal: Google offered advertisers 7 million video screenings for 275,000 rubles. That is, 1000 shows cost 39.3 rubles, which is unprecedentedly small, says the source of Vedomosti. Andrey Chernyshov, general director of AdWatch advertising agency, agrees with him. Rutube video hosting takes an order of magnitude more per thousand video screenings - 510-900 rubles.

The prices of the test advertising campaign do not comment on debts, and the full launch of the new advertising format promises in early autumn 2010. According to Dolgov, the Russian office of Google is developing a new sales model for such advertising: its cost will not depend on the number of shows, it will be a fixed price for each day of posting a commercial on the main page of Youtube. What this price will be, he does not say. Youtube has been selling video ads for about two years, Dolgov adds, while the project was delayed in Russia due to problems with accepting payments. Now Google has set up billing for Russia and advertisers and agencies will be able to purchase advertising on Youtube directly from the Russian office, paying for it in rubles, Dolgov promises.

Previously, Russian-language advertising on Youtube was purchased by advertisers under global contracts or European representative offices of advertising agencies, says Dmitry Ashmanov, general director of the advertising agency Mindshare Interaction. He is sure: Youtube will be popular with advertisers, "everyone has long wanted to be there."

The total volume of the video advertising market in Runet in 2009 doubled to 300 million rubles, Rutube believes. This company does not estimate the share of Youtube, but considers its own equal to 21% (63 million rubles).

The launch of a new format and the ability to pay in rubles will increase the demand for advertising on Youtube and attract advertisers from Russia, Dolgov hopes. Multinational companies have long been waiting for Google to start selling video ads on Youtube in Russia, agrees Rutube commercial director Alexander Khudoley. But success will depend on the effectiveness and volume of the audience of the new format, as well as on Google's ability to sell media advertising, he believes, because it specializes in contextual. Video ads on Youtube are effective, says Chernyshov from AdWatch, because this site is originally designed to view videos. And now, when advertising on television is practically bought out by the end of the year, Youtube can count on the arrival of large advertisers, he adds.

2007: Launch of the YouTube version in Russian

The Russian version of video hosting appeared 2 years after its foundation - at the end of 2007.

Notes