Russian state strengthens control over leading Internet group VK
Russia’s Gazprom is gaining control of VK Company, the LSE-listed Russian Internet major (previously known as Mail.ru Group), as a result of a string of deals to buy out Russian billionaire Alisher...
View ArticleRussia imposes record fines to Google, Meta for failing to remove banned content
On Friday last week, Russia slapped tech giants Google and Meta with penalties totaling over $125 million for repeated failure to remove banned content, the media reported. A Moscow magistrate’s court...
View ArticleInstagram and Whatsapp face ban in Russia after Meta allowed hate speech...
Meta’s properties — including Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp — are likely to cease their activities completely in Russia as the US social media company is now facing a criminal investigation over...
View ArticleInstagram blocked in Russia, hitting crowds of individual entrepreneurs
Today the Russian authorities blocked access to Instagram in the country after they accused its parent company Meta of allowing hate speech against Russians, including the military, on its platforms....
View Article“This destroys my five years of hard work:” How Instagram ban affects...
It’s been two days since Roskomnadzor blocked Instagram in Russia. The agency, which is in charge of telecommunications control and censorship, believes that the social network is filled with “calls to...
View ArticleReport: How the war in Ukraine is affecting the content that TikTok users see...
After Twitter, Facebook and Instagram were banned, TikTok is the only remaining global social media platform still available in Russia. According to Datareportal, it attracted nearly 55 million users...
View ArticleRussian influencers desperately scramble to maintain their followers — and...
As waves of wartime sanctions by foreign governments and private companies hit Russia, the country’s creator economy is in flux. The state ban on both Instagram and Facebook, Google’s ban on most...
View ArticleRussian state media is still posting to TikTok a month after the app blocked...
TikTok issued an update Tuesday on its efforts to stem the flow of misinformation about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but the company doesn’t appear to be effectively implementing its existing policies...
View ArticlePro-Russian authority in Kherson cuts access to Instagram and YouTube
The authority installed by occupying Russian troops in Ukraine’s southern region of Kherson announced on Wednesday that access to Instagram and YouTube is now blocked locally. Officials acknowledge,...
View ArticleRussia fines Apple for violating personal data law, Google for failing to...
On Monday Russia fined Google 21.1 billion rubles (some $263 million at the pre-war exchange rate, $360 million at the current rate) for repeatedly failing to remove prohibited content on its YouTube...
View ArticleRussia fines Twitch over Ukraine presidential adviser video
Russia fined U.S. streaming platform Twitch on Tuesday for the second time this month over its refusal to remove an interview with an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, state media...
View ArticleSocial media joke about annexing Kaliningrad goes viral
A joke on social media proposing that Czechs seize the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad has gone viral, sparking mirth as well as anger from those taking it as real. “Time to split Kaliningrad so that...
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