The project of the former head of Yandex.News, The True Story, was blocked at the request of the Prosecutor General's Office on August 25, three days after the launch of
Roskomnadzor added to the register of banned sites and blocked the news aggregator The True Story, launched by the former head of Yandex.News Lev Gershenzon.
“Our beta is scheduled to enter the next stage” now in Russia we can only be read from under the VPN. I did not expect that we would be allowed to work freely for three whole days, — apparently August and the holiday season»,— wrote Gershenzon on Facebook (owned by Meta, a company recognized as extremist and banned in Russia).
RBC sent a request to the press service of Roskomnadzor.
The True Story news aggregator, which collects media materials and social media posts, launched on August 22.
The service automatically collects news and related publications into news stories, ranked by importance and relevance. The True Story website says that the stories are collected into “big and long-running topics.”
“Our users get not just atomized news, but the opportunity to look at the event from different angles and follow global stories in development»,— it says in the project description.
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The True Story aggregates news, including news from media recognized as foreign agents in Russia, as well as media blocked by Roskomnadzor.
Lev Gershenzon served as head of Yandex.News from 2005 to 2012. He left the company after the editors refused to concentrate on the rally on Bolotnaya Square. Gershenzon criticized Yandex for covering events in Ukraine since the beginning of hostilities. He called the company's news aggregator a key element “in concealing information about what is happening.”
“There are no Russian laws that do not allow choosing Novaya Gazeta as the headline of a story. There is no criminal liability for the fact that on the main “Yandex” headlines of Russian-language media that do not have a media license will appear,— wrote Gershenzon.
Served as managing director of “Yandex” Tigran Khudaverdyan said in response that the company should provide for its work. “These are services that people living in the country need, like electricity or running water. The search must search. Taxi should come, goods and food— delivered, infrastructure— work»,— Khudaverdyan said, noting that this does not allow the company to “climb onto the armored car.”
In mid-March, Khudaverdyan was included in the EU sanctions list. In Brussels, Gershenzon's allegations regarding Yandex.News were mentioned in the rationale for the restrictions. Khudaverdyan resigned as managing director of Yandex and challenged the sanctions in court, saying he did not support Russia's actions in Ukraine.
Yandex" in mid-March decided to sell Novosti and the Yandex.Zen platform, RBC sources said. The details of the deal were announced by the company in August— VK bought the services, he will exchange these assets for Delivery Club.
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