Putin will look into YouTube disruptions, Kremlin says

President Vladimir Putin is looking into slow speeds and disruptions on YouTube in Russia.

President Vladimir Putin is looking into slow speeds and disruptions on YouTube in Russia after the country's top cinema official raised the matter with him, the Kremlin said on Friday.

Critics believe YouTube is being deliberately disrupted by the authorities to prevent Russians from viewing a mass of content there that is critical of Putin and his government.

Russia denies that, saying the issues are caused by Google's failure to upgrade equipment - a charge disputed by the company and technology experts.

Russian internet monitoring services have reported mass outages of the online video hosting service, which is owned by Alphabet's Google, in the last few months.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the speed issue was linked to Google's failure to comply with Russian law and that technical questions should be addressed to communications regulator Roskomnadzor.

Roskomnadzor and Google did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

YouTube is used by more than 50 million Russians every day, according to research company Mediascope. It provides an important platform for the exiled Russian opposition and for independent news outlets.