LONDON, Aug 8 (Reuters) - As Moscow has suppressed

independent, Russian-language media, YouTube has remained a

bastion of online freedom of expression, giving opposition

figures a platform to air their views. Now, YouTube in Russia is

living on borrowed time.

Russian internet monitoring services reported mass outages

on Thursday of the online video service, which is owned by

Alphabet's Google, the latest slowdown in recent

weeks.

Russian lawmakers have blamed Google's failure to

upgrade its equipment in Russia since the 2022 invasion of

Ukraine for a slowdown that started in mid-July.

The company and technology experts dispute this is the case.

Russia's state communications regulator Roskomnadzor did

not immediately reply to a request for comment.

With independent Russian-language media banned, YouTube is a

key source of opposition views. One video by late opposition

leader Alexei Navalny, alleging that President Vladimir Putin is

the ultimate owner of an opulent palace, something Putin denies,

has been viewed more than 132 million times.

Blocking YouTube, used by more than 50 million Russians

every day, according to Mediascope, could have damaging

implications for online freedom of speech, threaten Russia's

general internet connectivity and the livelihoods of thousands

of content creators, four experts, researchers and bloggers told

Reuters.

"We've seen that particular regions lose Youtube

connectivity overall or slow down by 90% for a few days, which

is not really explainable by servers being old," said Boris

Pastukhov, a political scientist and solicitor with 93,000

YouTube subscribers.

Pastukhov said this suggested Russia was regularly

tweaking its blocking approach and argued that YouTube server

failure could only be blamed for a small portion of outages, if

at all.

TECHNICAL ISSUES

Russia wants Google to unblock Russian state media channels

from YouTube and has also fined the U.S. company many times for

not removing content Moscow considers illegal, such as what it

calls "fakes" about the war in Ukraine.

Alexander Khinshtein, head of a parliamentary committee on

information policy, said on July 25 that YouTube speeds would

drop by as much as 70% in coming weeks, part of a drive to

persuade the video hosting site to reinstate blocked Russian

channels.

The degradation was "a necessary step, directed not against

Russian users, but against the administration of a foreign

resource that still believes it can violate and ignore our

legislation without punishment", he said on Telegram.

A day later, Khinshtein explicitly blamed the slowdown on

Google's failure to invest in Russian infrastructure, such as

its local cache servers.

Responding to this, a YouTube spokesperson told Reuters last

week that it was aware of reports that some people were unable

to access YouTube in Russia. This was not because of any actions

or technical issues on its part, the spokesperson said.

YouTube repeated that statement on Thursday.

ONLINE CENSORSHIP

Russian authorities swiftly blocked Russian-language media

outlets to quash dissenting voices as Russia invaded Ukraine in

February 2022.

Curbs on Twitter, now X and Meta Platforms' ( META )

Facebook and Instagram soon followed. But most non-Russian media

and YouTube, the most popular foreign video platform in Russia,

remained available.

Russia used to close websites by throttling traffic to

certain domains. While the government may still use that

practice, Moscow now has a decentralised censorship system,

known as TSPU, consisting of homegrown traffic management tools

that are developed, distributed and controlled by Roskomnadzor,

according to researchers at Censored Planet.

"Russia now has the TSPU, which is absolutely not

transparent to anyone," said Mikhail Klimarev, director of the

Internet Protection Society, a Russian digital rights group.

"Everything there is closed. They don't let anyone or

anything in there."

Given YouTube's popularity, the potential social outcry over

any ban has likely held the Russian authorities back from

pursuing a slowdown before now, but they could also be worried

about unwelcome knock-on effects, experts say.

Anything from 20-40% of Russia's internet traffic is on

YouTube, Klimarev said, pointing to possible strain on the

country's networks if traffic is throttled.

The proliferation of VPN use by millions of Russians to

circumvent online restrictions could also increase pressure on

other parts of Russia's internet infrastructure as traffic is

redirected away from internal servers to long-distance routes

that are less prepared to cope with the surge, Klimarev said.

Philipp Dietrich, a researcher at the German Council on

Foreign Relations, agreed.

"The potential internet overload is a reason why they may

have been reluctant to block Google in the past," he told

Reuters. "Blaming it on Google global cache is amazing for them,

it's the perfect way out."

DOMESTIC ALTERNATIVES

Moscow wants internet users to switch to domestic players

and it is easy to blame Google for issues with YouTube speed.

Of the domestic alternatives, VK Video, run by

state-controlled tech firm VK is best placed to

pounce. Its algorithmic video recommendations are not as strong

as YouTube's, said Dietrich, but if Russian content creators

move over, it should succeed.

VK declined to comment.

While non-political channels may move to VK Video, political

voices may be deterred.

Pastukhov, the political scientist, said the switch would be

an issue for larger Russian opposition channels with millions of

views or subscribers.

"Not only will they lose the platform, they will also lose

reach," he said.