In 2023, Yandex.Music removed 4 thousand contents at the request of government agencies

In the first six months of the year, the service received 275 requests to remove materials from 305 links, according to the company’s transparency report, cited by RBC. The company indicates that it will publish this report every six months.

The removed materials included various clips, music tracks, podcast episodes, and artists’ album covers. In the first six months, 3,246 units of content were removed from the site, in the third quarter – 1,087 units.

The service notes that the removed materials represent less than 0.01% of the entire catalog.

Reasons why content removal was requested

The main reasons for the claims of government agencies about the site materials were information about the Russian-Ukrainian military conflict, which, according to government agencies, is unreliable. Furthermore, the reason for the demand to remove the materials was the discredit of the authorities and the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.

Additionally, the service was asked to remove content that described or promoted non-traditional sexual relationships, as well as information and methods for committing suicide.

Furthermore, it appears from the report that the authorities’ demands concerned materials recognized as extremist or promoting extremist organizations and extremist individuals.

In addition, Yandex.Music removed content related to the production and use of prohibited substances, various content about minors, and materials related to murder and violence.

At the same time, 17.5 thousand music tracks from the Yandex.Music library received the “18+” label in the third quarter of 2023.

Previously, the court twice fined the general director of the Yandex-owned Kinopoisk service for the absence of the “18+” mark on films containing LGBT scenes.