YouTube goes down in Russia amid rumors of Google service block

A widespread outage of YouTube in Russia is preventing users from accessing the world’s largest video platform, and it comes amid rumors that the country intends to block Android and Google services.

As reported by NEXTA and Reuters, among others, YouTube is down for many in Russia. The site and its mobile app is not accessible by most users except for those using a VPN.

This comes after it’s been noticed that speeds on YouTube in Russia have “notably slowed,” as Reuters points out. However that, came shortly after Russian lawmakers directly warned that YouTube speeds could be slowed by as much as 70% as a “necessary step” against YouTube as the platform “still believes it can violate and ignore our legislation without punishment.” Alexander Khinshtein, head of a parliamentary committee on information policy, who previously warned of the slowdown has since blamed it on a failure on Google’s part to invest in Russian infrastructure, which YouTube rejected.

Notably, this is also happening as United24Media, a Ukrainian news outlet, reports that Russian authorities are planning to block Google services, along with Android and Apple’s iOS, within Russia. It was also reported in mid-July by Russian media that the Russian government intended to fully block YouTube by September.