Law enforcement authorities have pressed administrative charges against the top managers of some of Russia’s largest online streaming services over alleged violations of LGBTQ+ “propaganda” laws, the exiled news outlet Mediazona reported Wednesday.
Public records of the charges, which were filed with a Moscow arbitration court earlier this week, did not list the content that the streaming services, including Kinopoisk, Wink, Ivi, Amediteka, 24TV, Digital Television and Beeline TV, are accused of sharing on their platforms.
According to Mediazona, several of the companies have previously been fined for streaming films and shows that display what authorities in Russia describe as promoting “non-traditional” relationships and lifestyles.
Kinopoisk CEO Alexander Dunayevsky and Vyacheslav Popov, who heads the Rostelecom-owned streaming service Wink, have both been fined at least four times in recent years after being found responsible for the distribution of so-called LGBTQ+ “propaganda.” Ivi deputy CEO Ivan Grinin has also been fined multiple times for the same violation.
Only two of the top managers currently facing administrative charges — 24TV CEO Vladislav Dubrov and Digital Television program director Alexei Bernat — have not previously faced accusations of distributing LGBTQ+ “propaganda.” Bernat was charged specifically with subjecting minors to LGBTQ+ “propaganda.”
Russian streaming platforms have been hit with heavy fines since President Vladimir Putin expanded Russia’s LGBTQ+ “propaganda” laws in 2022 to ban any public display of so-called “non-traditional” relationships and lifestyles.
In 2023, Russia’s Supreme Court cracked down even further on the country’s LGBTQ+ community when it designated the non-existent “international LGBT movement” as an “extremist” organization.
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