National Media of Russia

World of Tanks may provoke suicide? Russian media watchdog probing popular game

A Russian media watchdog, which has recently banned the Pornhub adult website and threatened to banish Wikipedia and Reddit, is currently investigating one of the forum pages of the popular online game, World of Tanks.

Roskomnadzor announced on Facebook and Twitter that it had received a request to look into one of the massively popular online game’s forum pages, which features 20th century combat vehicles.

“According to the plaintiff, one of the forum’s pages has information on methods of committing suicide. We are analyzing the content to determine whether it contains illegal information,” it said.

Roskomnadzor caused quite a stir earlier in September when it banned the Russian-language version of Pornhub and 10 other websites on the grounds that they were deemed harmful to minors. "Go and make friends in real life instead of watching X-rated films,” it stated.

In August, it briefly banned the Russian-language version of Wikipedia over an entry about cannabis that a court earlier ruled contained illegal information. The ban was lifted just a few hours later, and Roskomnadzor said the Wikipedia article in question had been edited to comply with regulations.

Also in August, Roskomnadzor warned that news story-sharing site Reddit may also be blocked by some internet providers in the country over a thread about “growing drug-containing plants.”

A senior member of the majority United Russia party has proposed a law that would oblige the heads of mass media outlets and civil society activists to publish income declarations, just as senior state officials and politicians do now.

“Step by step we must move towards a situation in which all people that are public activists would submit their income declarations,” the secretary of the General Council of the United Russia party, Sergey Neverov, was quoted as saying by RBC.

A number of Russian broadcasters have filed a lawsuit in New York court against US companies for illegally streaming their content and using trademarks.

The plaintiffs are asking the court to stop the streaming and compensate for damages of at least $75,000.

The complaint has been lodged by Russia’s First Channel, CTC, Domashny, Che, Rain, Nostalgia, REN TV and TNT Comedy, reported business daily Kommersant.

The American online operators accused of piracy are Infomir, Panorama TV, Goodzone TV, Matvil Corporation, Actava TV, and Master Call Communications.

The lawsuit alleges the companies intercept the satellite signals of Russian broadcasters and redistribute them in the United States for a monthly fee, using the channels’ trade marks in advertising.

Subscribers can view the services through a downloaded IPTV player or a set-top box.

A representative from CTC Media told Kommersant that OTT-operators [companies that deliver media over the Internet – Ed.] have been actively developing on the US market.

“… Many of them illegally distribute content without contracts with copyright holders, they do not invest in infrastructure and don’t ensure high-quality broadcasting," he said, adding that thus they could offer lower prices to subscribers. The average monthly price in the US for online Russian language channel packages is $5-15 against the $30-50 from traditional cable operators.

The CEO of Russia’s Rain TV channel Natalya Sindeyeva said pirate broadcasting causes a lot of damage to the company like “losses in revenue and in negotiations with potential partners."

For legal viewing, Russian TV broadcasters cooperate with local cable and satellite operators in the US which include the international version of Russian channels in their subscription-based packages.