YouTube Is Throttled, Discord Is Blocked: Why Only VLESS Reality Fixes Both in Russia 2026

I've had the same conversation with friends in Russia about forty times over the past year. 'I turned on a VPN but YouTube is still slow.' Or: 'I tried NordVPN but Discord still doesn't work.' There's a specific technical reason these experiences happen, and it's not random — it's a predictable consequence of how TSPU works and how most VPNs fail against it. This article explains exactly what's happening and why only one category of solution actually fixes it.

YouTube in Russia 2026: Throttled, Not Blocked The distinction matters. YouTube is not on Russia's blocked registry — it hasn't been formally blocked. What exists instead is intentional bandwidth throttling: TSPU applies Quality of Service (QoS) rules specifically to YouTube video streams, limiting their bandwidth to 1–3 Mbps regardless of your actual connection speed.

Evidence this is intentional and not accidental: your Speedtest shows 60 Mbps, Google.com loads instantly, YouTube starts playing, then drops to buffering. A wget download of a YouTube video file directly to a server shows normal speeds — the throttling is specifically applied to browser-initiated video streams, not all YouTube traffic.

The throttle has been active since late 2024. By June 2026, Russian mobile operators have it consistently applied: tested on MTS, Beeline, MegaFon, and Tele2, all show similar YouTube speeds of 1–3 Mbps regardless of plan.

Discord: Actually Blocked Since October 2024 Discord is in a different category — it's on the Roskomnadzor blocked registry since October 8, 2024. The stated reason: Discord refused to localize Russian user data to servers in Russia under Russia's data localization law. Unlike YouTube (which cooperated partially), Discord's response was to not comply, leading to full registry blocking.

Technical difference: YouTube throttling allows partial access (you can start a video, it just buffers). Discord blocking is more complete — DNS is poisoned, IP connections to Discord's servers are blocked at network level. On mobile operators, this blocking is near-total.

This is the part that confuses people. The logic seems sound: if YouTube is throttled at the network level, a VPN should bypass that because the traffic goes through the VPN tunnel. Why doesn't it work?

TSPU applies throttling not just based on traffic destination but on traffic type. When TSPU detects WireGuard or OpenVPN traffic — which it can do reliably — it knows this is likely VPN traffic and applies its throttling rules to the VPN tunnel itself. The throttle moves from 'YouTube traffic' to 'this VPN tunnel' because TSPU assumes VPN tunnels carry the same blocked content.

Measured data: without VPN, YouTube = 1.8 Mbps. With NordVPN WireGuard = 2.3 Mbps. The VPN added 0.5 Mbps. That's not a working VPN for YouTube — that's a VPN that TSPU slightly de-prioritizes compared to unencrypted YouTube, then still throttles.

VLESS Reality is not detectable as VPN traffic. TSPU's analysis sees 'Chrome browser connecting to Microsoft via HTTPS' — a pattern that's not throttled. The YouTube stream flows through the unthrottled tunnel at full connection speed.

Personal measurements from MegaFon 4G in Moscow (June 2026):

4.2 Mbps

2.3 Mbps ❌

2.1 Mbps

1.9 Mbps ❌

Blocked

52 Mbps

48 Mbps ✅ 4K 42ms ✅

47 Mbps

44 Mbps ✅ 4K 45ms ✅

INFOCROSS VLESS Reality (HEL)

49 Mbps

46 Mbps ✅ 4K 48ms ✅

YouTube's video CDN has major nodes in Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Helsinki, and Warsaw. From Russia, Amsterdam and Helsinki give the best latency to YouTube CDN. Select NL or FI servers in @infocross_bot for YouTube streaming. Expected performance: 4K without buffering, typical latency 35–50ms.

Discord's EU voice servers are primarily in Frankfurt (EU Central) and Amsterdam (EU West). Frankfurt gives slightly better voice latency from most Russian cities due to more direct routing. Select DE servers in @infocross_bot for Discord. At 42–52ms additional latency, voice quality is excellent — indistinguishable from unfiltered connection.

If you want both YouTube and Discord always working without thinking about it: configure Hiddify to route youtube.com, googlevideo.com, discord.com, and discordapp.com through VPN, with everything else direct. This gives: YouTube and Discord at full speed via VPN, local Russian services (banking, Gosuslugi) at full speed direct.

In Hiddify: Settings → Routing Rules → add to 'Route through proxy': youtube.com, googlevideo.com, discord.com, discordapp.com. Set everything else to 'Direct'. Configure once, works permanently.

✅ Bottom Line

YouTube throttling and Discord blocking require VLESS Reality — WireGuard VPNs get throttled by TSPU as well. INFOCROSS @infocross_bot provides 48 Mbps+ to EU servers. Amsterdam/Helsinki for YouTube CDN, Frankfurt for Discord voice. From €1.30/month. Promo GULIGER for 55% off first month.