Russia may block YouTube and Instagram after ‘graft’ video with model, deputy PM and billionaire goes viral
YouTube and Instagram may be blocked as early as Wednesday unless they agree to remove a video accusing the deputy prime minister of corruption
Russia may block access to YouTube and Instagram after billionaire Oleg Deripaska won a court injunction against videos and photographs that showed him and Deputy Prime Minister Sergey Prikhodko relaxing on a yacht with a woman described as an escort.
Deripaska won an order from Ust-Labinsk court in his native Krasnodar region ordering the removal of 14 Instagram posts and seven YouTube videos that breached his right to privacy, according to a spokeswoman for his company, Basic Element.
Anti-Kremlin campaigner Alexey Navalny said the order also threatens to block his website after he published an online film alleging that the videos and photographs posted by the woman, who calls herself Nastya Rybka, showed evidence of a corrupt relationship between the aluminium tycoon and the senior minister.
Russian communications watchdog Roskomnadzor included the materials on its register of blacklisted sites following the court order.
Its press office declined immediate comment. Internet providers must block access to online services within days unless information declared illegal is deleted.