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Russia: Omsk Telecom Temporarily Bans YouTube

Categories: Eastern & Central Europe, Russia, Citizen Media, Film, Freedom of Speech, Governance, RuNet Echo

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 [1] [ru] from the city's most vocal netizen, Viktor Korb. The short-lived ban was apparently in response [2] [ru] to YouTube hosting clips from the film “Innocence of Muslims [3],” which sparked recent anti-American riots across the Muslim world. Minister of Communications and Mass Media Nikolai Nikiforov indicated [4] [ru] on Twitter that he expects Russian courts formally to ban the film soon, which Google will then block on YouTube.