YouTube will continue to exist in Russia, but demand is starting to decline – how is it doing today?

Russians continue to have problems connecting to YouTube, but while some are ready to switch to RuTube or social networks, others plan to defend the platform’s work to the last. Today we will tell you how providers began to bypass the YouTube block, what people think about it and what to expect in the near future.

Ksenia Achkasova, executive director of the research company Mediascore, said that as the service slowed down, citizens began to spend less time on it. In particular, on July 28, the average viewing time was 52 minutes, and on August 25, it was already 38 minutes. Moreover, the average daily coverage of the platform dropped from 46% to 41% during this period.

It is noteworthy that YouTube still accounts for about 80% of all video consumption on the Internet, although only 29% of citizens care about the stable operation of the platform, according to data from TASS and the research agency Mindscapes. Another 21% of respondents plan to stop using YouTube if it is disabled; 17% of citizens generally do not watch videos on video hosting; 29% will look for other ways to get around, and 33% are willing to go to other sites.

Among the three most popular replacement services, Russians see RuTube (60%), VKontakte (32%) and Zen (11%). Another 49% of respondents consider social networks to be a full-fledged replacement for YouTube. Of these, 67% call RuTube the best analogue; 65% call it “VKontakte”; 44% – Telegram; 33% – “Zen” and 16% – “Odnoklassniki”. Men aged 20 to 34 are the least willing to accept such a replacement: 38%.

In order to circumvent delays and attract new subscribers, telecom operators began to install new technical solutions. Lawyers confirm the legality of such actions, since YouTube is not included in the register of prohibited resources of the Russian Federation. The chairman of the Rosteleset association (which includes about 200 regional providers) Oleg Grishchenko shares the same opinion.

One of the circumvention methods was the redirection of traffic from Russian Google servers to European ones. Earlier, the Duma noted that two years ago the company stopped updating technical equipment in the Russian Federation, which affected the operation of servers and Google Global Cache (GGC). In short, the system serves to cache and accelerate data loading in each country in order to quickly access videos, instead of sending a direct request to Google’s servers. At the same time, the company itself stated that it was not involved in the slowdown of YouTube in Russia.

According to Kommersant, bypass methods have been used more than ten times across the country. Leading providers such as Rostelecom, MTS and MegaFon declined to comment, but they could still face sanctions.

Lawyer Ekaterina Abashina said that traffic manipulation may fall under the article of the Administrative Code on the work of TSPU (technical means of countering threats – editor’s note). Such tools filter all traffic from providers and help block “unsafe” sites without their participation. According to Abashina, sanctions can go as far as the loss of the license.

Today, the first hearing on Google’s lawsuit against the TV channels Tsargrad, Spas and Russia Today begins in California. The American side is looking for a solution that prevents foreign companies from filing claims against Google. The exceptions to this are the US and the UK. The reason may lie with Google’s parent company, Alphabet, which has long since stopped publishing information about lawsuits involving Russia.

Such data could come to light because these media outlets plan to sue the company in the United States for unblocking YouTube channels after they brought production to the Russian Federation. Lawyers suggest that such a proceeding could lead to shareholder problems for Google, both inside the US and abroad.

If the US and UK courts make positive decisions, it will become easier for Google to ignore Russian requests, including those about “violations of the law”. In this case, the authorities could officially ban YouTube (as a countermeasure) or leave everything as it is, for example to return the operator’s customer base.

Information about YouTube’s slowdown was announced in the State Duma on July 25. The deputies explained the decision by repeated violations of Russian law. Already on August 1, users experienced huge problems with the video service, and on August 8, the problem reached the mobile application.

After this, subscribers from more than 135 regions of the country began to cancel contracts with Internet providers en masse. Two associations, Rosteleset and the Association of Small Operators, reported the problem in a letter to the deputies. Over the past ten days, the number of complaints about problems with YouTube has almost quadrupled: from 1,566 to 443 cases.

What do you think awaits YouTube in Russia? What content are you watching now? Share your thoughts in the comments.