Russia: Omsk Telecom Temporarily Bans YouTube · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

For roughy seven hours earlier today, Rostelecom's customers in Omsk were unable to access YouTube. The short-lived ban prompted a flurry of panicked online activity, including urgent tweets [ru] from the city's most vocal netizen, Viktor Korb. The short-lived ban was apparently in response [ru] to YouTube hosting clips from the film “Innocence of Muslims,” which sparked recent anti-American riots across the Muslim world. Minister of Communications and Mass Media Nikolai Nikiforov indicated [ru] on Twitter that he expects Russian courts formally to ban the film soon, which Google will then block on YouTube.