Netflix Suspends Service in Russia

pcmag.com:

Netflix today said it will no longer offer service in Russia due to the country's invasion of Ukraine.

“Given the circumstances on the ground, we have decided to suspend our service in Russia," a Netflix spokesperson said in a statement.

Current Russian subscribers—who number just under 1 million, according to CNBC—will no longer have access to the video-streaming service after their current billing cycles conclude.

Netflix has been available in Russia since 2016, when the service announced a global expansion into 130 new countries at CES 2016. But Russian-language content was limited until 2020, when Netflix teamed with National Media Group (NMG) on a localized version of the site, Broadband TV News reported at the time.

Last summer, Netflix announced the start of filming for its first Russian drama series Anna K, and it has several other Russian series in the works. But earlier this week, in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Netflix halted all future projects in the country, Variety reported. Last month, it also refused to comply with a Russian law that would have required Netflix to carry propaganda programming, according to Deadline.

Netflix is just the latest tech company to pull out of the Russian market, and it comes after Visa and Mastercard said they would stop processing payments in the country.

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