Economics
Why Putin Isn’t Laughing at Russia’s Foul-Mouthed YouTube Craze
- Kremlin seen playing catch-up in unfamiliar online world
- Russian 18-24 year-olds switch off from state TV propaganda
How Putin Became the Symbol of Russian Power
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Nikolai Sobolev’s acute sense of what’s on the minds of his young audience has made his expletive-laced video blog one of Russia’s hottest. But after a steady diet of topics like teen angst, the 23-year-old found an unexpected new issue was taking off this spring: opposition activism.
“Have you noticed that the closer the presidential elections get, the more politics there is in YouTube?” he asked, opening a recent video post that featured sympathetic treatment of Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny.