Earlier this month, Russia blocked Facebook and Twitter after the platforms placed restrictions on Russia’s state-backed media outlets. The Meta-owned platforms Facebook and Instagram were later banned by Russia, stating that they were “carrying out extremist activities.” This ban was issued after Meta confirmed it was relaxing its policies on hate speech towards Russian soldiers and Vladimir Putin in relation to the country’s invasion of Ukraine.

Now, according to a Reuters report, Spotify will be shutting down its streaming service in Russia in response to the country’s new media law. Previously, the audio streaming platform closed its office in Russia indefinitely citing what it described as Moscow’s “unprovoked attack on Ukraine.”

On the current development, the streaming platform stated that “Spotify has continued to believe that it’s critically important to try to keep our service operational in Russia to provide trusted, independent news and information from the region,” Spotify said in a statement. “Unfortunately, recently enacted legislation further restricting access to information, eliminating free expression, and criminalizing certain types of news puts the safety of Spotify’s employees and the possibility of even our listeners at risk.”

According to a knowledgeable source on the matter, the audio streaming platform is expected to end its service in Russia in early April.

Another streaming service, Netflix, also pulled its services from Russia earlier this month after stating that it had no plans to add state-run channels to its Russian service. For those unaware, Russia’s communications regulator announced earlier in January that it will mandate foreign streaming services to also offer 20 local federal television channels to their userbase.

RELATED:

• Netflix will charge extra if uses share their account password with others
• Spotify Car Thing audio streaming device is now on sale
• Meta signs deal for 3D ads for FaceBook, Instagram, & metaverse

The post Spotify to suspend service in Russia due to new media law appeared first on Gizmochina.

Earlier this week, Russia threatened to ban YouTube as the popular video sharing platform removed the Russian state backed broadcaster RT’s German language channels from its website. This urged the Kremlin to call for ‘zero tolerance’ towards the online platform.

According to a Reuters report, the online video streaming platform, owned by Alphabet Inc, has deleted the state backed broadcaster RT’s channels on Tuesday. YouTube stated that the channel was removed from its website as it breached its COVID-19 misinformation policy. Furthermore, the company also added that it would block all anti vaccine content from its platform as well. This marks its expansion outside of just Coronavirus, and includes content that alleges vaccines cause chronic health effects or other form of misinformation regarding the vaccines.

On the other hand, Russia stated that it was considering retaliating against German media and also accused YouTube of “unprecedented information aggression” over the deletion of the RT channels. This also marks the spark of new friction between the Russian government and a tech giant. Russian state communications regulator Roskomnadzor stated that it has written to Google and demanded that YouTube should lift the restrictions on RT channels.

If the company fails to comply, then the government could partially or fully restrict access to YouTube in the region. As of right now, Google has declined to comment on the matter. Additionally, the government could also impose other measures to ensure YouTube complies with its laws, as per Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. He further added that “There should certainly be zero tolerance for this kind of breaking of the law.”

RELATED:

• YouTube gets yet another gesture to seek videos
• Russia’s Yandex to start tests for Self Driving Taxis in Moscow
• Google is reportedly developing a second foldable Pixel phone codenamed Jumbojack

The post Russia threatens to ban YouTube, calls for “zero tolerance” appeared first on Gizmochina.

Gizmochina has increased its efforts to deliver quick and latest Chinese smartphone news to our readers. However, our audience is not just based of English-speaking readers and we understand this. Given that a lot of our readers come from Russia, we have now launched our Gizmochina Russia sister website. It’s been a couple of weeks since the website was launched and we are currently delivering all the top Chinese news in Russian consistently on the website.

If you are a Russian visitor and want to read the latest Chinese news in Russian, please check out our sister website for all the latest news.

Also, please follow our Gizmochina Russia VK page to keep yourself updated.

In case you missed, LeEco has officially announced the Le 2 and Le Max 2 in Russia and they are priced pretty aggresively. You can read all about that here (in Russian).

The post Gizmochina Russia Website Launched: Latest Chinese Phone News Now In Russian! appeared first on Gizmochina.