Upcoming legislation addressing online video services could force YouTube to withdraw from Russia.
According to Kommersant, the legal committee of the Media Communications Union (MKS), which has drafted the legislation, says that YouTube could be deemed to be an “organiser of audiovisual services”.
Quoting a source familiar with the drafting of the bill, it adds that while YouTube features both professional and user generated content, the methods for separating the two are not clear.
To stay within the proposed new legislation, YouTube, which accounts for over 30% of all internet consumption in Russia, would have to create additional infrastructure.
On the other hand, President Pavel Stepanov, the president of MKS, has previously said that YouTube and social networks would not be subject to the bill.
Amendments since introduced to the proposed legislation are understood to have been initiated principally by Gazprom Media and CTC Media and to target Netflix, which was launched in Russia at the beginning of this year.
As previously reported by Broadband TV News, one of the main elements of the proposed legislation is placing a 20% foreign ownership cap on OTT services.
In a late update, speaking to the Rambler News Service and quoted by The Moscow Times, Alexei Volin, the deputy communications minister, denied that YouTube would be forced to leave Russia.
