Today Russian lawmakers backed a bill that would force foreign internet companies to set up local offices or face harsh penalties, including an outright ban. The bill was passed on the first of its three required readings, parliament’s lower house said in a statement. The legislation concerns online companies whose daily users in Russia tops …
Netflix, the world’s largest streaming platform, has bought the rights to Russia’s “Brother” (“Brat”) films and will make them available from June 1. The “Brother” series are Russian neo-noir crime dramas written and directed by Alexei Balabanov in 1997 and 2000. The series tells a story of Danila Bogrov, who has just returned from fighting …
Netflix acquires rights to Russia’s cult ‘Brat’ films Read More
No less than 193,000 people attended virtually the first edition of Smart Cities Moscow, an international online forum which took place earlier this week in Moscow. Eighty-six speakers from Russia, China, Switzerland, Canada, Spain, the United States, Sweden and other countries shared their views, offering fascinating insights about smart city developments across the world. “A …
Moscow online event on smart cities attended by 193,000 people from around the world Read More
Specialized research agency Data Insight has just released the international version of its Russian e-commerce report for 2020. Domestic sales of physical goods amounted to 2.7 trillion rubles (some $37 billion at the average exchange rate of the year), up 58% from 2019 — placing Russia among the world’s fastest-growing e-commerce markets. Several segments recorded …
In 2020, Russian e-commerce recorded one of the world’s highest growth rates Read More
Facebook said Russia and Iran are the internet’s leading spreaders of disinformation aimed at manipulating public opinion in a report published Thursday. Facebook researchers linked most of Russian operations to the Internet Research Agency, a St. Petersburg-based troll factory that was also blamed by the U.S. intelligence community for 2016 election interference. “Facebook’s broader security strategy against …
Facebook accuses Russia of spreading disinformation Read More
A world-renowned company in the game and payment industries, Xsolla could be worth $3 billion, according to research from Goldman Sachs and Bank of America. This company was founded back 15 years ago in the city of Perm, 680 miles east of Moscow. Today it has offices in the USA, Russia and South Korea. In 2020, it …
Russian online video major IVI (ivi.ru) announced today a $250 million funding round involving top state and private investors. This is one of the biggest deals of the past years on the Russian tech scene, and an all-time record in the online video segment. The consortium of investors includes several big names, combining two major …
A recently reported increase in the number of cybercrimes in Russia poses a threat to the national security, a senior official with the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office told TASS. The number of identified crimes committed with the use of information and communication technologies “jumped by 74%, from 294,000 in 2019 to 510,000 in 2020,” stated …
Cybercrime poses threat to Russia’s national security, says Prosecutor General’s Office Read More
Russian billionaire Zakhar Smushkin — chairman of the Ilim pulp and paper group and #122 in the Forbes ranking of top Russian businessmen — intends to invest 400 million rubles in an adtech startup called Vieweo. This capital injection (equivalent to $5.5 million at the current exchange rate) will be made until the end of …
A draft law has been submitted to the Russian State Duma that will oblige foreign IT companies to open full-fledged representative offices in Russia. Hosting providers, advertising systems operators, and “online information distributors” are concerned as well. Should such a law be adopted, foreign companies with a daily traffic of 500,000 users from Russia or more will …
Russia considers mandating foreign IT companies to open local representative offices Read More
Russia’s internet regulator has threatened to slow down Google services in Russia if it does not comply with requests to delete content within 24 hours. According to Roskomnadzor, Google has failed to remove 20-30% of links to content which are prohibited in Russia — a controversial category which includes content promoting drug use and featuring …
Russia gives Google 24-hour ultimatum to remove banned content Read More
Last week Elon Musk spoke remotely at a Russian state-sponsored education forum, spending 40 minutes answering questions from students. The tech celebrity said he received a personal invitation from President Vladimir Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov. Among other speakers at the event were Steve Wozniak, on the international side, and a bevy of tech CEOs …
“All transport on earth will be electric,” says Elon Musk to Russian students Read More
