Russian authorities' attempt to slow down YouTube has led to disruptions in bank payment system and social networks - media
According to Ukrinform, this was reported by The Moscow Times.
On Thursday, Russian users complained of difficulties accessing banking applications, Russian social networks, and problems with the mobile operator MTS. In addition, the Central Bank of Russia's Rapid Payment System, through which citizens can make transfers without fees by phone, has gone down; the app of the Piatichka retail chain is also experiencing problems.
Banking applications and internet systems have been down for three days in a row, with clients of Sberbank and Rosbank complaining about the inability to access their online bank and transfers being suspended. The day before, the outage affected Rosbank, Alfa-Bank, Rosselkhozbank, Raiffeisenbank, Gazprombank and VTB, whose representatives explained the situation as an "attack from abroad". Earlier on Tuesday, users complained of problems at Gazprombank, RSGB, Raiffeisenbank and Rosbank.
The internet failures come amid Roskomnadzor's statements about problems with access to YouTube, which the state company attributes to wear and tear on Google's equipment. Technical experts, however, see this as a deliberate slowdown in access to the video hosting service.
The possibility of blocking YouTube has been discussed since the beginning of the full-scale war. For this purpose, TSPU (technical means of countering threats) are used, which all Russian operators were obliged to install on their networks, as Mikhail Klimarev, head of the Society for the Protection of the Internet, pointed out earlier. In particular, he noted that access to the googlevideo.com domain was being slowed down at the level of the TSPU.
Officially, the Kremlin denies plans to restrict access to YouTube, which has become the main platform for the opposition and anti-war agenda and has gained more than 90 million viewers in Russia. At the same time, a source from Russia's telecoms market told reporters that slowing down YouTube is a deliberate policy of the authorities, and the reference to "technical problems with the equipment" is an attempt to "shift the blame".
As reported, Roskomnadzor has repeatedly demanded that Google stop broadcasting "anti-Russian videos" on YouTube, i.e. those that contradict the official position of the Russian authorities.
