In the video she ridiculed the participants of the March protests, playing the role of a teacher who tells an inexperienced schoolboy he does not understand anything. In the first half of May, a clip of Alisa Vox, the former singer of the band Leningrad, appeared online. However, there are now signs that they are coming to the realisation that the interests of the young electorate need be taken into account. The Russian authorities clearly underestimated the power one online documentary could have. Navalny answered matter-of-factly: “We probably will not do this.” The video is still online and has been viewed by almost 25 million users. One court ordered Navalny’s organisation to remove particular fragments of the film: those related to the activities of billionaire Alisher Usmanov and those related to the “Sotsgosproekt fund”. As a result, many supported Alexei Navalny’s call to protest corruption last March.Īs the documentary went viral, authorities stepped in and tried to block it from being viewed. Many opinion leaders commented on the documentary, which led to more online views. But Russian internet users reacted vigorously online. The authorities, at first, ignored the documentary, refraining from comment. The film appeared online in early March this year and before the rallies started it received more than 14 million views. It described the corruption practices of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, focusing on his property. The film which pushed thousands to protest across Russia was a documentary investigation by the Anti-Corruption Foundation titled He is not Dimon to you. The majority of the protesters were young. This changed in March this year, however, when a single film brought tens of thousands of people to the streets in 82 Russian cities. Those within the 25-34 year-old age group are the most active users of YouTube in the country.ĭespite its rapidly growing popularity, the Russian authorities at first did not pay much attention to YouTube. In addition to a growing audience, it is important to emphasise the main advantage that YouTube has: younger generations of Russians now prefer YouTube over traditional media as their main source of news and information. Some research indicates the figure could be even more than 80 million.
In Russia, 87 per cent of internet users watch videos on YouTube and the number of monthly active viewers is more than 62 million unique users.
In June 2017 YouTube claimed that its monthly audience of registered users passed 1.5 billion people. Already in 2016, the video sharing social network became the second most visited website in the world after. The year 2017 has definitely become the year of YouTube. While the opposition is able to attract followers with content, the authorities are experimenting with ways to establish control over the video portal. In Russia YouTube is becoming the main platform for political conflict and a battleground for young voters.
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