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Alexander Zharov at SPIEF-2021: There should be transparent rules and equal economic conditions for all online platforms

A discussion called “Struggle for digital sovereignty: How to preserve a single information space?” was held on June 3 as part of the St. Petersburg Economic Forum’s business program. The CEO of Gazprom-Media Holding Alexander Zharov took part in the discussion.

The panelists discussed the issue of censorship of Russian mass media and ordinary users on global digital platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Their accounts are getting blocked and their access to content is restricted.

Speaking at the panel, Alexander Zharov stressed that the Internet is a part of life in the modern world. According to him, the rules must be the same for both Western and Russian digital platforms and IT companies given the global level of competition. Accordingly, he voiced his support for the bill “on grounding” foreign companies in Russia.

“There should be transparent rules, equal economic conditions for all Internet platforms. First of all, all foreign platforms must have their branches based on Russian territory. Currently, these are most often not branches, but marketing services, which you cannot discuss anything with. They do not bear any responsibility for the actions and policies of their parent holdings.”

Alexander Zharov CEO of Gazprom-Media Holding

Alexander Zharov also spoke about the modernisation of RUTUBE. The Holding started the platform’s re-launch in April 2021. Notably, its interface and navigation were completely redesigned and new content management tools were added.

“We carried out a major study to create a comfortable and user-friendly interface for people, based on user opinions and comments. RUTUBE added many new tools that allow users to do what they do on YouTube and even more. This is RUTUBE Studios - an interface for uploading and producing content. We are producing content and we will continue to do so. Starting in the fall, the platform will feature original projects. Attracting traffic is our common task. People need to go to the platform, live there and lead a virtual life. Certainly, we will continue to improve RUTUBE, in part, by developing its money-earning system. There is now an advertising model and a donation model on RUTUBE. Starting in the fall, users will get other opportunities to earn money. A platform for short, vertical videos will also be introduced in the fall. It will have options that are not available on similar platforms, TikTok and Likee.”

Alexander Zharov CEO of Gazprom-Media Holding

Alexander Zharov at SPIEF-2021: There should be transparent rules and equal economic conditions for all online platforms

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