Resurrecting Rutube: The Russian authorities have been investing in domestic ‘alternatives’ to YouTube, investigative journalists report

The Russian authorities have been sinking money into domestic alternatives to YouTube for over a year, says a new investigation from iStories and Agentstvo. Allegedly, these Russian video platforms are meant to serve as substitutes in the event that Russia's censorship agency bans YouTube altogether. However, sources say blocking YouTube would be a last resort -- apparently, the authorities in the Kremlin hope that its parent company, Google, can be "forced into submission" through fines and threats to throttle YouTube's traffic. Original Article: https://meduza.io/en/feature/2022/02/09/resurrecting-rutube