For years, Russian tech regulators have gnashed their teeth at the reach of YouTube, the video platform that is a major source of largely uncensored news, information, and entertainment — not to mention a major source of income for many Russian influencers and bloggers.<\/p>\n
Authorities have throttled the Google-owned platform, trying to frustrate Russian viewers by slowing<\/a> it to unbearable speeds. They\u2019ve threatened the Silicon Valley giant to get it to house its servers inside Russia, so regulators can better monitor its traffic.<\/p>\n They\u2019ve also tried to cultivate homegrown alternatives that would be under the thumb of regulators.<\/p>\n How\u2019s it going?<\/p>\n They\u2019re not there yet, experts say, but it\u2019s coming<\/a> soon.<\/p>\n Years in the making, the effort is part of the wider Kremlin-backed campaign to build Russia\u2019s own \u201cmanaged\u201d Internet \u2013 where Russians are essentially given constrained choice, the illusion of unfettered information, and monitored closely for infractions.<\/p>\n This past week, Russian officials signaled they were moving toward blocking WhatsApp, the Meta-owned messaging app that is widely used for news and communication.<\/p>\n \u201cYouTube is massive in Russia,\u201d said Philipp Dietrich, a researcher and expert on Russia\u2019s Internet at the German Council on Foreign Relations.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is a major threat to the government,\u201d he said in an interview. \u201cThat’s 100 percent and for sure, if you manage to have a platform on which you can control which videos go online and which videos don’t, that\u2019s obviously majorly beneficial.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018They\u2019re The Main Player\u2019<\/p>\n Millions of Russians watch video streaming services. YouTube is by far the most popular, a trend that continued upward after Russia\u2019s all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.<\/p>\n Prior to his death, the anti-corruption crusader Aleksei Navalny released his biting investigations and commentary on YouTube, garnering tens of millions of views inside Russia alone. More than 10 million people in and out of Russia subscribe to Yury Dud\u2019s YouTube channel and his edgy, fast-paced interviews.<\/p>\n According to market research<\/a> from Mediascope, 95.9 million Russian teenagers and adults visited YouTube monthly in the last half of 2024. That number slipped in the first half of 2025, however, after regulators started slowing the service down.<\/p>\n At least five video streaming projects have emerged in the Russian Internet \u2013 known widely as the RuNet \u2013 as potential challengers to YouTube.<\/p>\n VK Video, a streaming service built by VK, Russia\u2019s equivalent to Facebook, trails in viewership, but has steadily increased its audience.<\/p>\n Other platforms include Gazprom-owned Rutube; Zen, which spun off<\/a> of Yandex in 2022; and Video OK, another Facebook-like social media platform also owned by VK.<\/p>\n The parent company of the state-owned TV network previously known as Russia Today invested in a streaming service called Platform<\/a>, launching it in June 2024. By all metrics, it\u2019s been a flop, with just daily viewership in the tens of thousands.<\/p>\n The most popular content on Platform is pirated content, according to Systema, RFE\/RL\u2019s Russian investigative service. Last month, Platform\u2019s developers announced a \u201creboot\u201d of the service<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s an obvious attempt to create a service \u2018as a business\u2019 on the basis of blocking the main competitor: YouTube,\u201d said Mikhail Klimarev, a Russian blogger and Director of the Society for the Defense of the Internet, an advocacy group.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd it is obvious that the money is being taken from the [state] budget, not from private investors. It\u2019s just run-of-the-mill theft.\u201d<\/p>\n For the moment, VK Video is the most viable alternative for YouTube, Dietrich said– and likely will eventually replace it entirely.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the only real big alternative is VK Video. I think that’s the main player. They have the money. They\u2019re government-backed. They\u2019re going to go all-in here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThey have the servers, the infrastructure, they have good software, they have good engineers, if money doesn\u2019t get into corruption, if it actually goes where it\u2019s supposed to go, VK is going to be a success.\u201d<\/p>\n The government backing comes in the form of VK\u2019s controlling shareholders, and its senior executives.<\/p>\n SOGAZ, the insurance company controlled by Putin confidante Yuri Kovalchuk, is one of the major shareholders, along with Gazprom Media, which is the media arm<\/a> of state-owned natural gas giant Gazprom. Gazprom Media also owns Rutube, which is frequently used by the Kremlin to release official videos.<\/p>\n VK\u2019s chief executive is Vladimir Kiriyenko, whose father is the Kremlin domestic policy chief. Kovalchuk\u2019s great nephew, Stepan, has been a vice president at VK, helping develop VK Video, among other things.<\/p>\n For now, the biggest problem with VK Video is its credibility<\/a> with audience numbers, Dietrich said: there\u2019s no real way to gauge if its \u201cengagement numbers\u201d \u2013 clicks, likes, shares, time spent viewing \u2013 are real or contrived.<\/p>\n Another Brick In The Firewall<\/p>\n Russian authorities’ efforts to tighten their grip on the Internet date as far back as the late 1990s, with the development of the System for Operative Search Activities – essentially a surveillance tool for the Internet.<\/p>\n Over the years, authorities have passed<\/a> a series of laws, increasing oversight of Internet companies, and expanding the oversight powers of regulatory agency Roskomnadzor. They\u2019ve consolidated control of the leading homegrown tech giants \u2013 Yandex, VK, Mail.ru, Wildberries \u2013 under Kremlin-friendly ownership.<\/p>\n They\u2019ve criminalized the use of virtual private networks (VPNs) which allow people to read or view or download content without drawing authorities\u2019 attention.<\/p>\n Lawmakers are even trying to criminalize searching for VPNs.<\/p>\n At a televised Kremlin meeting in March, President Vladimir Putin demanded that officials choke off foreign tech companies like Microsoft and Zoom.<\/p>\n “You just have to strangle them. I agree completely,” Putin said.<\/p>\n \u201cI do think that they are moving towards a China model, not the North Korean model,\u201d Dietrich said. \u201cLike, people think there’s going to be a complete cut-off. That’s just not possible. That would nuke the economy.\u201d<\/p>\n In addition to nudging Russians away from YouTube, authorities have also pushed toward creation of a \u201csuper app\u201d \u2013 that would allow Russians to do a multitude of things: chat, bank, date, hail a taxi, pay taxes, download music, play games, order food, share photos.<\/p>\n Developed<\/a> by VK, the app, called Max, got a test run in March. Last month, Putin said<\/a> that all government services should be transferred to Max.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat you essentially need to do as a government is you need to come up with ideas: how do we get people to use this thing without just openly mandating it,\u201d Dietrich said. \u201cThe way you do this is you make this ecosystem completely indispensable.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWith this app, you can literally do everything,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Authorities have also made no secret that they will try to push people off of popular messaging apps; the Russian-built Telegram or WhatsApp, which is currently the most popular messenger in Russia, according to Mediascope.<\/p>\n