Google must pay fines, return to Russia, and update technologies to bring YouTube back to life. This statement was made by Anton Gorelkin, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy.
YouTube is starting to die slowly in Russia technologically. And to revive it, Google must pay fines, return to Russia, and start a technological update of its CDN network.
YouTube traffic has decreased by about a third and continues to fall. This has led to an increase in the popularity of domestic video hosting services.
And I hope that our video hosting services will take advantage of this unexpected gift. <...> After all, someone from them will be able to compete not among local players, but will impose competition on the American dominance, the American monopolist.
The judicial authorities have repeatedly imposed штрафные санкции on the company after Roskomnadzor revealed violations. The company also received several fines from the Federal Antimonopoly Service, which concluded that the YouTube video hosting service, owned by Google, applies non-transparent, unfair, and unpredictable rules for blocking accounts and content.
At the end of February 2025, Google LLC's debt in Russia exceeded 21.5 billion rubles.
In December 2024, the social network "VKontakte" for the first time surpassed YouTube in terms of reach among Russians. According to Mediascope, the social network attracted about 92 million users in a month.
Read more on the topic:
Rostelecom has nothing to do with it!: Youtube slows itself down
Google denied involvement in slowing down YouTube in Russia
Historical minimum: YouTube traffic in Russia has fallen to a shocking 20% of normal
