Every year the Hootsuite social media management platform and the We Are Social agency compile a Global Digital Yearbook that covers developments in Internet, social media, mobile and e-commerce usage throughout the world. The report includes key statistics on social media usage in Russia, where social media attracted some 70 million active users in January 2019 (up …
When policing online behavior in Russia, law enforcement agencies enjoy total compliance from the country’s most popular social network, Vkontakte, which coughs up users’ personal data whenever requested. This information — account registration times, linked email addresses and phone numbers, and IP addresses — constitutes sufficient evidence in court to prove that an individual is …
How Russian law enforcement identifies Facebook and Telegram users Read More
In March 2018, the users or Yandex, Russia’s most popular search engine, noticed a peculiar feature: if you typed “govno” – Russian for “sh*t” – in the Yandex.Maps search (who does that?!) the first address Yandex gives you is Moscow, Balchug Street, 7 – the headquarters of Google Inc. in Russia. Hours later Yandex explained …
Facebook and Google’s Russian rivals: Why are they winning? Read More
On December 19 the State Duma, the lower chamber of parliament, adopted amendments to the criminal code article that represses “the provocation to hatred or enmity ” and “offence to human dignity.” The amendments partially decriminalize the code’s Article 282, which has been widely used for such offences involving social media content. As reported by online …
Russian lawmakers amend criminal code to reduce pressure on social media activity Read More
LSE-listed Mail.Ru Group, which owns Russia’s largest social networks Vkontakte (VK) and Odnoklassiki (OK), has signed an option agreement to complete the acquisition of United Media Agency (UMA), an aggregator and distributor of digital content. UMA is, in particular, the owner of music rights in Vkontakte and of BOOM, a top music app. “Mail.Ru Group’s relationship …
Mail.Ru Group agrees full acquisition of music rights owner UMA for $97 million Read More
No less than 39 million buyers and 22 million sellers – both companies (B2C) and individuals (C2C) – are involved in social commerce, according to a study released last month by Yandex.Checkout and Data Insight. The research reveals the importance of social channels in the Russian e-commerce space, accounting for no less than 40% of …
Proekt.Media, a new independent online publication which claims to cover even “complex and dangerous topics,” has inquired about “how the authorities turned Telegram into television” by colonizing and buying out the medium. According to journalists Mikhail Rubin and Roman, Kremlin officials were initially worried about the influence of Telegram channels on Russia’s political system. In late …
How the Kremlin conquered Russia’s Telegram channels Read More
Liliya Chanysheva, an activist who works at Alexey Navalny’s headquarters in St. Petersburg, is suing the social network Vkontakte (a property of LSE-listed Mail.Ru Group) for disclosing users’ personal information to Russian law enforcement. According to Chanysheva’s lawyer, police have tried to justify the information collection by citing two federal laws, though both these laws limit …
How Vkontakte cooperates with Russian law enforcement and secret service agencies Read More
The Ministry of Communications and Mass Media of Dagestan, an autonomous republic in Southern Russia, has created an anonymous hotline for citizens to report “extremist content” found online. The campaign targets the “propaganda or public justification of terrorism; hate speech related to ethnic origin or religious orientation; and other types of prohibited content.” A video …
Dagestani ministry offers iPhone SE for reporting online “extremist content” Read More
Alibaba, Mail.Ru Group, Russian telco MegaFon and sovereign fund Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) today announced a “strategic partnership” that encompasses such a wide area as e-commerce, social media, online entertainment and communications combined. The agreement aims to leverage on the existing businesses of AliExpress Russia, the B2C marketplace owned by Alibaba which controls a …
In a new sign of their search for a relative independence in Russia’s digital space, the social networks VK (Vkontakte) and OK (Odnoklassniki) have rejected new advertisements from United Russia where the ruling party claims to be “the president’s party.” As reported by online publication Znak.com from a source in one of United Russia’s regional offices, Mail.ru …
Mail.Ru Group’s social networks reject advertisements from ruling party ‘United Russia’ Read More
The authorities’ propensity to crackdown on social media users for their activity with supposedly unlawful content has become excessive even in the taste of such an established and little opposition-minded Internet business as Mail.Ru Group. The group dominates the Russian social media scene with its properties VK (Vkontakte) and OK (Odnoklassniki). Listed on the LSE, …
“Groundless persecution” of social media users raises growing protests in Russia Read More
