Russian internet monitoring services on Thursday reported thousands of disruptions in the availability of video hosting site YouTube, amid growing criticism of the platform by Russian authorities.
Russian internet monitoring service Sboi.rf said thousands of glitches had been reported regarding YouTube in Russia. Users said they could only access YouTube via a virtual private network (VPN).
“YouTube is not working,” one anonymous user said in a comment on the site.
Reuters journalists in Russia were unable to access YouTube. The website remained accessible via some mobile devices.
YouTube download speeds have slowed significantly in recent weeks, leading Russian lawmakers to blame YouTube owner Alphabet’s Google, which the company has disputed.