Industry And Digital Economy Still Needed, Russia Will Not Close YouTube Service

JAKARTA – The Russian government does not plan to block YouTube from Alphabet Inc. This was announced by the Russian Minister of Digital Development, on Tuesday, May 17 who acknowledged that such a move would likely make Russian users suffer and should therefore be avoided.

Russia has blocked other foreign social media platforms, but despite months of fines and threats against YouTube for failing to remove content Moscow deems illegal and for restricting access to some Russian media, they have stopped dealing a mortal blow to the video hosting service.

With about 90 million monthly users in Russia, YouTube is very popular and plays an important role in the digital economy. Although Russia has another domestic version of social media, RuTube, a viable YouTube alternative on that scale has yet to emerge.

"We are not planning to shut down YouTube," Maksut Shadaev, who is also the Minister of Communications and Mass Media, told an education forum, which was also quoted by Reuters. "Above all, when we restrict something, we have to understand clearly that our users will not suffer from it."

Shadaev explains that competition is the engine of progress and blocking is an extreme measure. He said this in a large gathering of young people from Russia, some of whom were scattered around the room with bean bags.

While Google Alphabet did not immediately comment on this. But so far Google has faced a number of fines from the Russian government.

Hot tensions between Moscow and Big Tech erupted into a full-fledged information battle after Russia sent tens of thousands of troops to Ukraine on February 24.

Russia also restricted access to Meta Platform's Twitter and Facebook and Instagram in early March. They vowed in April to punish Google for shutting down Russian state-funded media globally on YouTube. Russia has also accused Youtube and Google of spreading false information about what Russia calls special military operations in Ukraine.

Meta was finally found guilty of "extremist activity" in March. The decision was opposed by the company, but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Tuesday said he would not rule out a return to Instagram, as long as Meta complies with Russian laws on local content and offices.

Shadaev also poured cold water on suggestions that Russia might seek to further isolate itself from the global internet infrastructure, something that was cut short during last summer's tests.

"We don't want to shut ourselves off from anyone," said Shadaev. "On the contrary, we think that Russia should remain part of the global network."