Russia will replace YouTube with an alternate platform RuTube, media outlets reported on Sunday.
Many creators are moving to alternative Russian-grown platforms like Yandex Zen, RuTube, and VKontakte (VK) as an alternative to services like Facebook, YouTube, and even Netflix.
Organizers of the RuTube, launched by "Gazprom Media" in 2006, announced that its users have been increasing significantly recently.
Gazprom-Media CEO Alexander Zharov stated that the Russian platform's users are soaring by 150 to 450 thousand people per day.
In addition, video downloads rose from 3000 to 40000 times a day, according to Zharov. He also affirmed that the service works perfectly and there are no technical problems.
This comes after YouTube blocked the lower house of parliament’s channel account on Saturday, warning of reprisals.
Vyacheslav Volodin, the head of the State Duma, said Washington was breaching “the rights of Russians”.
“The United States wants to have a monopoly on the diffusion of information,” Volodin revealed on Telegram. “We cannot allow that”.
On her part, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova noted “YouTube has sealed its fate”.
Zakharova advised Russian YouTube users to transfer their content to Russian platforms, indicating that YouTube may disappear from Russia soon. “Save content, transfer to Russian platforms. And hurry up,” she said on Telegram.
In the meanwhile, Russian telecommunications watchdog Roskomnadzor said that it has urged Google to restore the Duma TV channel.
“The American IT company adheres to a pronounced anti-Russian position in the information war unleashed by the West against our country,” Roskomnadzor said.
According to Moscow, duma-TV, which airs clips of parliamentary debates and interviews of Russian lawmakers, had more than 145,000 subscribers.
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