On Monday, May 30, Netflix confirmed the shutdown of the video service in Russia, media reported citing AFP.
The company emphasized that they had disabled access to content for Russian users after the end of the current payment cycle.
Subscribers began to complain about the work of the official Netflix website on Friday, May 27 - it was launched in Russia only when using VPN services.
Otherwise, a message appeared on the page that the site was not available.
At the same time, the application worked for some time, but without the ability to view content.
Roskomnadzor reported that they did not restrict the functioning of the streaming service.
“Roskomnadzor has not taken restrictive measures against the Netflix video service.
In March 2022, the Netflix audiovisual service independently suspended its activities in Russia, ”TASS quotes a representative of the press service of the department.
At the end of February, shortly after the start of the military special operation in Ukraine, Netflix announced its refusal to broadcast 20 Russian free federal channels, the broadcast of which has become mandatory for any foreign platform included in the register of audiovisual services since March 1, 2022.
“Given the current situation, we have no plans to add these channels to our service,” a spokesperson for the streaming service told Variety.
The company also stopped the production of a number of Russian original projects.
Among them is the series "Anna K" - a modern interpretation of Leo Tolstoy's novel "Anna Karenina".
It was expected that the action of the tape will unfold in Moscow and St. Petersburg, as well as in the Russian outback.
Among the main characters is the heir to the business in the field of metallurgy, Alexei Vronsky.
Svetlana Khodchenkova was approved for the main role of socialite Anna Karenina.
In addition, Netflix refused to produce the ZATO series by Stanislav Libin and Daria Zhug and Nothing Special.
Yura Borisov was approved for the main role in the latter.
The fate of the Netflix film with Alexander Petrov is also unknown.
The suspension of the streaming service in Russia negatively affected the quarterly report of Netflix, released on April 19.
The company announced a drop in the number of subscribers for the first time since 2011.
According to the results of the 1st quarter of 2022, they turned out to be 200 thousand less compared to the 4th quarter of 2021.
At the same time, 700 thousand users were subscribed to Netflix in Russia.
As a result, the company's shares fell by 35%.
In response to the withdrawal of the streaming service from the Russian market, viewers filed a class action lawsuit against the company demanding to return access to Netflix content.
The issue of compensation for moral damages was also discussed.
As Yulia Aleinik, head of the Destra Legal group of lawyers, representing the interests of the participants in the lawsuit, explained in an interview with RT, the video service violated its own user agreement.
“When users register on the Netflix website, they agree to the terms of use of the service.
In particular, the user agreement provides for automatic renewal of the subscription if the user himself has not refused.
By unilaterally terminating this subscription, the service violates both its own agreement, that is, the terms of the contract that it itself came up with for its consumers, and Russian law, which by default prohibits the unilateral refusal to fulfill the contract with consumers, ”says Yulia Aleinik.
Netflix is not the only video content producer to halt its operations in Russia amid the special operation.
Access to their products to Russian viewers was limited by Amazon Prime Video, and the largest Hollywood studios refused to rent their new films in the country.
So, Russian viewers were not able to watch Batman, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, The Lost City, Sonic 2 Movie, Morbius, Doctor Strange: In the Multiverse of Madness and many others in cinemas.