President Vladimir Putin is looking into slow speeds and disruptions on YouTube in Russia after the country’s top cinema official raised the matter with him, the Kremlin said on Friday.
Critics believe YouTube is being deliberately disrupted by the authorities to prevent Russians from viewing a mass of content there that is critical of Putin and his government.
Russia denies that, saying the issues are caused by Google’s failure to upgrade equipment – a charge disputed by the company and technology experts.
Russian internet monitoring services have reported mass outages of the online video hosting service, which is owned by Alphabet’s Google, in the last few months.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the speed issue was linked to Google’s failure to comply with Russian law and that technical questions should be addressed to communications regulator Roskomnadzor.
Roskomnadzor and Google did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
YouTube is used by more than 50 million Russians every day, according to research company Mediascope. It provides an important platform for the exiled Russian opposition and for independent news outlets.
Peskov said YouTube speeds were not high on people’s agendas in Russia. But Karen Shakhnazarov, who has headed the state-owned giant of Soviet and Russian cinema, Mosfilm, for more than 25 years, said on Thursday he had met with Putin and discussed the issue.
“Slowing down YouTube, in my view, is not very advisable today,” Shakhnazarov said on state television. “To which the president said there are all sorts of nastiness on there.”
Google, along with other foreign tech firms and social media platforms, has been under pressure in Russia for several years, particularly for not taking down content Moscow considers illegal, such as what it calls “fakes” about the war in Ukraine.
Russia also strongly objects to Google blocking YouTube channels and videos from state-sponsored media.
Shakhnazarov said he agreed that there were some bad things on YouTube, but that those who wanted to access them were able to get around restrictions and many others simply use the platform to watch films and other content.
“He listened and said ‘I’ll look into it’,” Shakhnazarov said.