Russian streaming service censors foreign series amid widening state crackdown

Russian online streaming platform Amediateka has censored nearly half of its foreign television series, according to a Mediazona investigation. The outlet reported that over 7,300 fragments totaling more than 75 hours of footage were cut from approximately 200 titles. The excised scenes—covering themes such as non-traditional relationships, drug use, suicide, and incest—have significantly altered key plotlines in major series including Game of Thrones.

In parallel developments, a Russian court banned the romance novel Heated Rivalry over its portrayal of a romance between two male hockey players. Meanwhile, secondary schools in Novosibirsk received new patriotic education textbooks. The materials portray military service in Ukraine as an honorable duty while strongly criticizing Western cultural influences and non-traditional relationships.

Sources: Mediazona, NEXTA, The Insider, Verstka.