Online Support Group for LGBT Teens Blocked on Russian Social Network

Sep. 25, 2015

Russia's VKontakte social network said Friday it has complied with the country's media watchdog agency demands and blocked an online support group for LGBT teens, which the government has deemed guilty of illegal “gay propaganda.”

The Deti-404 (Children-404) group is blocked from access in Russia, VKontakte spokesman Georgy Lobushkin said on the social network, although it remains accessible from outside the country.

A failure to meet watchdog Roskomnadzor's demands to shut down the group would have prompted the government to shut down VKontakte altogether, Lobushkin said.

Earlier this week, Roskomnadzor added five VKontakte groups to its registry of banned pages for containing “propaganda promoting non-traditional sexual relations among teenagers,” which was outlawed in Russia in 2013.

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