(Bloomberg) -- The Kremlin is turning to Alphabet Inc.’s YouTube to get its message out to the world even as it’s throttling access for ordinary Russians to the US social media site.
President Vladimir Putin’s administration resumed posting videos on the channel in the past two weeks for the first time in six months. “We are making use of every resource to spread information about the work of the president,” his spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told the Tass news service.
A senior pro-government lawmaker said in July that YouTube download speeds on computers would slow by 70%, effectively blocking access to one of the most popular platforms used by Putin’s critics to condemn his war in Ukraine and crackdown on civil liberties. Other social media platforms including Facebook, X and Instagram have already been blocked by Russian authorities since the start of the February 2022 war.
Videos posted by the Kremlin this month include a broadcast of Putin’s appearance at an investment forum and his meeting with national security advisers of the BRICS group of nations. A 4-minute clip of the president meeting a military officer wounded in the fighting in Ukraine drew the biggest audience of 185,000.
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