Advertising
For help, call:
By Caleb Davis and Alexander Marrow
(Reuters) – A popular Russian streaming site was fined 1 million rubles ($11,105) on Thursday after a Moscow court said it failed to impose an age limit of 18 or older on a film referencing LGBT relationships.
The court said Ivi, who runs streaming service ivi. ru, gave the Italian comedy “Perfect Strangers” a score of 16, violating strict Russian law that prohibits the promotion of “non-traditional” relationships with children.
Russia toughened its anti-LGBT policy last year, allowing the government to fine any user or organization caught advertising homosexuality in public, online, in movies, books or advertisements.
Ivi said he would review the court’s ruling and decide whether to appeal or not.
“We continue to be proactive with our content base and ensure that all content on our platform is properly tagged,” he said.
Tighter restrictions imposed across Russia have caused confusion among streaming sites. Detective content would possibly require sifting through hours and hours of footage to look for curtains that might violate the new rules.
The prosecution may be initiated through a warning from national communications regulator Roskomnadzor, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Ivi is one of more than a dozen streaming sites in Russia that have been fined or threatened with consequences this year for streaming content classified as LGBT,18 news firm RIA reported.
Kinopoisk, a streaming service owned by Nasdaq-listed tech giant Yandex, was fined one million rubles this month for mislabeling certain movies. Yandex argued that the videos could only be viewed on a subscription basis and were only available to audiences over the age of 18. .
Lawmakers say Russian legislation is binding on society because of what they see as decadent “Western values. “
Rights groups say the legislation aims to ban depictions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in public life.
($1 = 90. 0475 rubles)
(Reporting via Caleb Davis and Alexander Marrow; additional reporting via Alessandro Parodi; editing via Gareth Jones)
Advertising
Advertising
Advertising
Advertising
Advertising
Advertising
Advertising
Advertising
Advertising