Control at all costs

But at the same time, political content on the Russian-language segment of YouTube accounts for no more than 5% of total views on the platform. Entertainment and education content, from Peppa Pig or printer instructions to lectures on French literature and medieval music concerts, make up the majority of content uploaded to the site. By choosing to censor all YouTube content, the Russian authorities have closed off an entire world that had nothing to do with politics, opposition or dissent, effectively throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

The content Russia has suppressed by targeting political videos should be mourned along with the loss of free, political expression. Arts, culture, entertainment and education may not be as politically salient on YouTube as a Navalny speech, but the destruction of this content also carries alarming implications.

The notion that the Kremlin is blocking YouTube to stop the spread of hugely popular opposition bloggers is simply untrue. Opposition bloggers do not receive millions of views and are not among the most shared or watched videos on the platform. Therefore, it is unlikely that the Kremlin targeted YouTube simply to scare or intimidate the opposition.

The government blocking YouTube because it has the power to do so is a much scarier reality. YouTube’s censorship is a natural part of the Russian government’s strategy for controlling its subjects because the Kremlin is guided by its will to control the Russian people.

In the past, information was in short supply and was often hard for the general public to access. But with the advent of the internet, information became available to everyone, not just a select few. Thus, it became necessary to change the entire information landscape in order to control it.

It is not specific information — cartoons, lectures or anti-war rhetoric — that is hostile to the Kremlin’s interests, but rather the environment itself, the ease and availability of accessing and generating content. In seeking to control information, Russia has taken steps to crush the entire internet and indiscriminately repress all information, no matter what political message it conveys. This move does not just threaten a few opposition bloggers; it compromises everyone’s ability in Russia to freely use, create and access information. In short, any information that goes uncontrolled is, in the Kremlin’s view, inherently dangerous.

With YouTube unable to operate in the country, many have switched to Rutube and VK.Video, where content is limited and usually of poorer quality. Blocking YouTube has also meant that content on other video-sharing sites is less regulated while remaining under the Kremlin’s close watch. Pornographic videos as well as content that violates copyright law have flourished on these alternative platforms while opposition bloggers are completely banned.

YouTube is full of content that aligns with the Kremlin’s political narrative, including plenty of pro-Putin and pro-war content. But Roskomnadzor does not seem to care what your politics are. It just minds that the online environment harbours a diversity of opinions. In fact, even pro-war bloggers are no longer able to use YouTube after its services were censored in Russia, creating a digital landscape in Russia in which control supersedes ideology.

Although a future like North Korea remains far off, censorship in Russia has dramatically increased over the last decade. YouTube was the last stalwart of free speech in Russia as virtually every other social media platform has been banned or come under complete state control. As YouTube falls, the Kremlin inches ever closer to total online domination.