73(around 15,000 euros) for the development of video blogs about politics. Fifteen
video bloggers out of more than 100 applicants were on the shortlist, proving that
this type of video blogging is actively developing. The question now is: how long
will the government tolerate it?
Where the truth is being toldOne reason why it is important to discuss the relationship between the state
and the online community appeared in June this year with a video message from a
blogger named Kamikadzedead (his channel has more than one million subscrib-
ers). In his message, directed at the heads of YouTube, Dmitry Ivanov (the real
name of the blogger) said the Russian YouTube office was co-operating with Putin’s
government and wanted to “make YouTube similar to Russian television”, delib-
erately shutting down channels that criticised Russian policy. He also stated that
the Russian YouTube office uses new rules of service concerning the moderation
of offensive content, in order to remove opposition videos and “remove channels
that criticise authorities”. Ivanov also said that if a video which contradicts party
policy was not deleted, YouTube deliberately reduces its number of views. It has
been very difficult to verify Ivanov’s claims, but his concerns are shared by many
others in Runet.
In September the Swiss edition of Le Temps published an article titled “How
YouTube censors the internet in the interests of the Kremlin”. The author, Emma-
nuel Grinshpan, writes that a video blogger named Roman Tsimbalyuk appealed
to their paper and complained that a video, which appeared on his channel on
September 5th and had 14,000 views, was blocked by YouTube without explana-
tion. Tsimbalyuk, the only Ukrainian correspondent in Russia, complained that
many of his videos were removed based on complaints from YouTube users close
to the government. Videos are usually restored later, but there are still more ques-
tions than answers.
It would seem that clouds over Russian YouTube videos are gathering, and the
latest information about a possible ban on the Google Global Cache (servers de-
signed to reduce the communication load on networks installed by Google and used
by internet providers) does not help the situation. Despite all the difficulties, there
is no other platform where bloggers can potentially reach such a large audience.
YouTube remains one of the few platforms where, citing the slogan of Navalny’s
channel, “the truth is being told”. Alternative voices frighten the government and
give hope to the Russian opposition, especially in light of the upcoming Russian
presidential election next year.
The Kremlin sets its eyes on YouTube, Svitlana Ovcharova Opinion & Analysis