Rostelecom has issued a warning about potential disruptions to YouTube services in Russia.
Technical Malfunctions
According to Fontanka the company announced on Friday, July 12, that these issues might stem from technical malfunctions in equipment owned by Google. This equipment is integral to Rostelecom’s network infrastructure and is crucial for traffic exchange between telecom operators.
The problems were identified by Rostelecom, which noted that Google's equipment is used for caching and accelerating content loading, primarily for YouTube. The issues have resulted in significant overloads due to the inability to expand capacity in response to increased traffic volume.
No Plans to Block
Rostelecom highlighted that these technical difficulties are causing severe strain on the existing infrastructure, including traffic exchange between operators. This strain could impact the speed and quality of YouTube video playback for users of all Russian telecom operators.
In 2022, Alexei Pushkov, head of the Federation Council Commission on Information Policy and Media Relations, proposed blocking YouTube through Roskomnadzor and the Prosecutor General's Office. However, the Ministry of Digital Development stated that there are currently no plans to block YouTube in Russia.
Previously, YouTube blocked channels of artists like Shaman, Polina Gagarina, Grigory Leps, and Yulia Chicherina, who supported Russian authorities and were sanctioned by the West. Additionally, the platform has blocked pages of Russian state media.
