Paul Goble
Staunton, Aug. 9 – The Kremlin’s decision to slow down Youtube in hopes of getting Russians to stop visiting that portal have sparked numerous jokes among Russians about that act. Aleksandr Arkhipova, an independent anthropologist in Moscow, offers three of them in her latest telegram post.
The first one holds that Moscow decided to slow down Youtube after it failed to slow down Russian commentator Ekaterina Schulmann. The second says that it made that decision after it showed itself incapable of slowing the Ukrainian advance into Russian territory (t.me/anthro_fun/3050 reposted at echofm.online/opinions/neozhidannyj-yumor-viselnikov).
And the third took the form of graffiti which reads “We are Russians. VPN [the system by which users can end run efforts to shut off parts of the Internet for Russian users] is with us” – although Arkhipova concedes she isn’t sure of the exact time or place where that graffiti was first put up.
The anthropologist also provided a real message that one Internet service provider in Russia put out to its customers. It said that those experiencing slow downs with Youtube but able to use other Internet portals without difficulty shouldn’t bother contacting the service because there is nothing the company can do.
The service added that if they do call, they will be responded to by employees who normally deal with advertising. That isn’t perfect, the service acknowledges, but under the circumstances, it is the best it can do. After all, it has to do something as calls from customers are very important to it.
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