[5][6] All downloaded content is checked by moderators to block anything that is pornographic, insulting, spam, advocates drug use or violence, or is otherwise abusive and in violation of established rules.

It was launched by Oleg Volobuyev and Mikhail Paulkin—entrepreneurs from Oryol and co-owners of a popular online multiplayer browser game based on Sergey Lukiyanenko's World of Watches saga.

Volobuyev said that the i-vision.ru service, which they had developed, was an ActiveX-based browser plugin, but that ActiveX control elements created a risk of malware infiltration, so the team had to switch to Flash Video.

[21] In the summer of 2008, Kommersant stated that the Rutube control stake had been acquired at $15 million in total and that the founders had received motivation payments.

Vladimir Barabanov, former corporate director of the Hearst Shkulev Media Publishing House, was appointed as Chief Development Officer.

[27] In September 2011, paid video content was added: live Russian Football Premier League streams maintained in cooperation with NTV-Plus, a satellite TV provider.

[29][30][clarification needed] In March 2011, under the supervision of the Rutube managerial staff, the Now.ru online movie theater was launched in the service's technical base.

The library included licensed content provided by Sony Pictures, The Walt Disney Company, Warner Bros., Playboy, Lionsgate, BBC, MTV, and Nickelodeon.

In the new group, Gazprom Media holds a 33.3% stock, and the rest of it belongs to previous Pladform stockholders—Armen Gulinyan, Ivan Tavrin, and Innova.

[44] In January 2019, Ivan Tavrin and his partners sold 67% of the OOO Ruform Stock to Alexander Karmanov—the main owner of Eurasian Pipeline Consortium.

In late 2020, news emerged that Gazprom Media planned to purchase Rutube's controlling stock and monopolize ownership of the video-hosting platform.

[47] On December 28, 2020, the information proved correct: Gazprom Media became the sole owner of OOO Ruform (a company that includes Rutube and Pladform) and was planning to carry on with the team.

Also, Rutube switched back to the classic monetization model - relying on free video streaming with mandatory ad-viewing.

[49] The changes influenced the web version: which featured a completely new interface, intuitive navigation, a new color palette, and new content-management tools.

[51] A large-scale cyberattack forced the video platform offline, hours before the scheduled streaming of the Moscow 9 May 2022 Victory Day parade.

[53] In July 2022, two Russian pranksters, Vovan and Lexus, arranged prank interviews, luring a number of European politicians to speak with their impersonation of the mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko.

[55] In August 2024, Rutube launched a function for transferring video content from YouTube, access to which has been difficult in Russia for several weeks.