A Moscow court fined the popular Russian movie streaming website Kinopoisk 10 million rubles ($110,000) on Tuesday for charges related to “propaganda” of LGBTQ+ lifestyles and pedophilia.
The Tagansky District Court imposed a 3 million ruble ($33,000) fine on Kinopoisk for “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations and preferences, as well as sex changes.” The same court imposed a separate fine of 7 million rubles ($77,000) for “propaganda of pedophilia.”
The court did not specify what content led to the fines, but last month, a different Moscow court fined Kinopoisk CEO Alexander Dunayevsky 800,000 rubles ($8,800). According to media reports, the fine was connected to the streaming platform distributing the 2015 Gaspar Noe drama “Love,” which features a young adolescent character in explicit scenes.
Russian media outlets and streaming platforms have been hit with heavy fines since President Vladimir Putin expanded the country’s “LGBT propaganda” law in late 2022 to include bans on any public displays of so-called “non-traditional” relationships and lifestyles.
Kinopoisk, a film database and streaming service owned by Russia’s tech giant Yandex, attracts over 150 million monthly visitors.
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