Russian streaming service edits foreign shows as state censorship expands

Russian streaming platform Amediateka has removed over 7,300 fragments totaling more than 75 hours of content from roughly 200 foreign television series to comply with domestic laws, an investigation by Mediazona revealed. The excised footage targets scenes containing non-traditional sexual relationships, drug use, suicide, and incest, in some instances erasing key plotlines from major productions such as Game of Thrones.

In a parallel enforcement action, a Russian court banned the romance novel Heated Rivalry over its portrayal of a romantic relationship between two male hockey players, according to Verstka. Meanwhile, secondary schools in Novosibirsk distributed new supplementary textbooks focused on moral and patriotic education. The materials frame military service in Ukraine as an honorable duty while sharply denouncing Western cultural influences and non-traditional relationships, NEXTA reported.

Sources: Mediazona, NEXTA, The Insider, Verstka.