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It's pretty safe to assume that nothing happens in Russia without Vladimir Putin's knowledge, but he's reportedly playing coy about YouTube slowdowns in the country.
In an appearance on Russian TV, filmmaker Karen Shakhnazarov said he met with Putin recently and expressed concern about the throttling of Google's video-streaming service. "Slowing down YouTube, in my view, is not very advisable today," Shakhnazarov said, according to Reuters. "To which the president said there are all sorts of nastiness on there."
Shakhnazarov argued that people will find ways around blockades, like VPNs, so why bother? "He listened and said, 'I'll look into it,'" Shakhnazarov said of Putin.
Since August, Russia has throttled YouTube speeds by up to 70%. The party line is that the move was due to Google deleting channels created by state-owned TV networks and some public figures. But it's just as likely that Putin doesn't want Russians watching content that criticizes him and his policies, Reuters notes.
In late October, a Russian court fined Google $20 decillion (36 zeroes) for blocking 17 YouTube channels belonging to local TV networks.
Russia blames Google. "Some of these issues atre solely attributable to the position of [YouTube's] owner, [which refuses] to comply with Russian laws," says Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov.