A Russian state-owned company took control of the country’s biggest social network, Vkontakte, considered the local “Facebook”, in yet another push by President Vladimir Putin for control of the internet.
Insurance company Sogaz, owned by state-owned giant Gazprom, has bought 57.3% of the voting shares of VK, the internet group that owns social networks Vkontakte and Odnoklassniki and other online brands, including Delivery Club and food delivery services. Samokath.
Sogaz is partially controlled by banker Yuri Kovalchuk, whom Putin has already publicly called a personal friend.
The shares belonged to USM, the holding of Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov, which announced the sale in a statement last Thursday (2), without revealing the amount paid for them.
USM said it wants to focus more on other companies in its portfolio, including sectors such as telecommunications and metals and mining.
VK did not respond to a request for comment from Reuters. The group was known as Mail.Ru until a rebranding in October.
The social network Vkontakte is often touted as Russia’s answer to Facebook.
“The transaction was carried out on market terms,” ​​said Alexei Miller, chairman of Sogaz and CEO of Gazprom, in a statement.
Russia has been increasing pressure on foreign tech companies, slowing Twitter since March and routinely fining other companies for content violations.
Google has paid more than 32 million rubles in fines this year, and Google, Twitter and Meta have significantly reduced the number of posts banned by Moscow on their platforms.
Russia demanded last month that 13 foreign companies, mainly US technology companies, be officially represented on Russian soil by the end of 2021 or face possible restrictions or even outright bans.
In 2019, two laws that criminalize fake news and insults against state agents generated protests in the country and were denounced by defenders of freedom of expression as an excessive control.​
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