Downloads of the VK app, Russia’s answer to Facebook, have skyrocketed after the Kremlin throttled the loading speed of videos on YouTube. Moscow Times reported on August 7.
Over the past week, Russian social media company VK’s video streaming platform has seen a significant downturn as YouTube loading speeds have dropped by 70% in some regions.
Russian rival site RuTube is also seeing a sharp increase in its user numbers as users look for alternatives to YouTube, which remains the most popular video hosting platform in Russia.
“Downloads of the VK video app increased 4.5 times in the first week of August compared to the monthly average in July, reaching more than 250,000 downloads per day,” the state news agency TASS quoted the technology company’s press office as saying.
Both Apple’s App Store and Google Play have listed VK Video among the most downloaded apps, a notable increase after the app remained outside the top 20 for the past two months.
Last week, users across Russia began reporting problems with YouTube’s download speeds after authorities demanded that Google, YouTube’s owner, restore about 200 pro-government channels.
Google has dismissed Russia’s claims that YouTube’s slowdown was “the result of technical issues or actions on our part.” The Russian state-owned telecom giant had previously warned that Google’s withdrawal of equipment from the country would degrade the playback quality of YouTube videos.
The Kremlin has tightened its control over the internet and media freedom in recent years, and YouTube has become an important platform for dissenting views in the country.
As bne IntelliNews As reported, the Kremlin appears to be trying to take control of or expand its influence over Russia’s largest internet companies: the equivalents of Facebook (VK), Amazon (Wildberries) and Google (Yandex).
