Russian Youtube bloggers will be forced to switch to domestic platforms

By The Moscow Times Russian Service 

moscowtimes.nl

2 min

February 9, 2024

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Russian authorities are preparing to forcibly “land” bloggers from YouTube on domestic video platforms. To do this, the Public Chamber (PC) of the Russian Federation decided to create a blacklist of those who are represented on the American video service, but who are not on Russian platforms.

“We will publish it ( the black list - TMT) because these are people who deliberately do not work in Russian social networks, positioning themselves as Russian bloggers,” said Alexander Malkevich, first deputy chairman of the RF OP Commission for the Development of the Information Community, Media and Mass Communications .

According to him, the list will be part of a program to encourage bloggers to switch to domestic social networks. “In the future, it should become the basis for developing and taking action against content makers who ignore our platforms. And here legislators must have their say, because if you don’t go to our platforms, it means you want to hide your income either out of stupidity, or out of habit, or are conducting enemy activities,” Malkevich noted.

He also proposed working out a set of measures to motivate opinion leaders to switch to Russian social networks. “We need to help them on these social networks. We published in the OP Telegam channel a whole list of our normal, well-developing social networks - analogues of Western ones. All this is there, it works,” concluded the representative of the OP.

Despite the threat of blocking YouTube in Russia, the number of Russian bloggers on the video service continues to grow: from November 2022 to November 2023, it increased by 18%, to 7.1 million people, as calculated by Brand Analytic.

Also, YouTube in Russia increased the volume of content and the activity of authors - by 22% (to 29.5 million messages) and 4%, respectively. At the same time, VKontakte, which is positioned by the authorities as a replacement for YouTube in case of blocking, over the year the number of authors fell by 8%, to 25.6 million, and the volume of content decreased by 12% - from 472.5 million messages to 414 .2 million. Brand Analytics explained the decline in the number of authors as a “rebound after noticeable growth in previous periods.”

Earlier, the State Duma admitted that it would not be possible to block YouTube in Russia until at least 2028. The main reason is the lack of a domestic alternative, noted Anton Gorelkin, deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Technology and Communications.

“Today we have two services, one of which should take off: RuTube and VK-video. I personally bet on the latter,” Gorelkin emphasized. In addition, he agreed that YouTube “both technologically and ideologically” was integrated into the Runet, and also “won in quality.”