There likely won’t be a red carpet rolled out in front of the Fairfax County courthouse, but some big names are coming to Johnny Depp’s now $100 million defamation battle with ex-wife Amber Heard when the long delayed trial starts next month.
27.02.2022 - 19:55 / variety.com
Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorGoogle’s YouTube said it is blocking the ability for Kremlin-controlled media outlets, including Russia Today (RT), to run ads on their channels, coming amid broad economic sanctions enacted by Western powers against Russia because of its sudden and violent attack on Ukraine.On Saturday, YouTube said it “began pausing a number of Russian channels’ ability to monetize on YouTube, including RT. As always, it will take some time for our systems to fully ramp up and in the meantime, some users may see ads temporarily.
We continue to monitor the situation closely.”In addition, Russian media organizations will not be able to buy ads on Google properties, including search and Gmail, according to the internet giant. YouTube also is blocking access to certain content on RT’s YouTube channel in English and Russian from being accessible from within Ukraine, according to a report by the Russian network.The moves by Google and YouTube come after the European Union on Feb.
23 announced sanctions on individuals involved in Russian media, including Margarita Simonyan, editor in chief of RT, whom it called “a central figure” of Russian propaganda.Separately, Facebook on Friday said it was banning Russian state media outlets from running ads and was continuing to add fact-checking labels to state-controlled media, despite the Russian government’s demands and its subsequent retaliation against Facebook by slowing down traffic to the social-media company’s services.“We are now prohibiting Russian state media from running ads or monetizing on our platform anywhere in the world,” Nathaniel Gleicher, head of security policy at Meta, Facebook’s parent company, said in a statement. “We also continue to apply
.There likely won’t be a red carpet rolled out in front of the Fairfax County courthouse, but some big names are coming to Johnny Depp’s now $100 million defamation battle with ex-wife Amber Heard when the long delayed trial starts next month.
Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterIn “The War of the Worlds,” Tom Cruise flees an alien invasion in a Plymouth minivan. The camera swoops around and around, capturing the drama inside the van as it swerves through traffic, and rising from a point below the bumper to look down on the chaos from high above.That shot was made possible by the Russian Arm, a gyro-stabilized crane mounted on the roof of a car. The technology was introduced in the late 1990s, and has become a mainstay of the “Fast and Furious” and “Mission: Impossible” franchises as well as Marvel and DC superhero films such as “Black Widow” and “Wonder Woman.” Whenever there’s a car chase or a cavalry charge or a stampede of giant robots, the director calls for the Russian Arm.
Influencers in Russia are speaking out about the Instagram ban in the country amid the Russia-Ukraine war. Instagram's ban went into effect Monday. Popular social media stars who have amassed millions of followers posted tearful videos in which they hinted that their livelihoods as they knew it have been upended.
Brent Renaud, an acclaimed filmmaker who traveled to some of the darkest and most dangerous corners of the world for documentaries that transported audiences to little-known places of suffering, died Sunday after Russian forces opened fire on his vehicle in Ukraine.
Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorYouTube has suspended all monetization programs for users in Russia — after previously halting ads in the country — given the ongoing Russian military assault on Ukraine, the video giant announced Friday.In addition, YouTube said it is now blocking access to YouTube channels associated with Russian state-funded media, including RT and Sputnik, across the globe after earlier blocking them from access across Europe. “This change is effective immediately, and we expect our systems to take time to ramp up,” YouTube said in a statement on Twitter.RT’s YouTube channel currently has 4.7 million subscribers, while Sputnik has 327,000.
The Sarajevo Film Festival is the latest international film organization to show its support for Ukraine as the festival has announced it will include Ukrainian films and filmmakers in its regional programs. The beloved European festival originally started off as regional event for Balkan films and has since evolved to incorporate Southeast Europe and the Causcasus region.
Sacha Baron Cohen has called out social media platforms for not blocking Russia’s state TV network amid the country’s invasion of Ukraine.In a post on Twitter, the actor criticised the CEOs of Facebook, Twitter, Google and YouTube – Mark Zuckerbeg, Parag Agrawal, Sundar Pichai and Susan Wojcick respectively – and urged them to remove the network RT from their platforms.“Putin just bombed a children’s hospital, but @Facebook, @Instagram, @Twitter & @YouTube are still showing Russia’s state-run RT,” Cohen wrote.“Why are you profiting off Putin’s propaganda?! Remove Russia RT from your platforms NOW!”Hey Mark, @paraga,@sundarpichai, @SusanWojcicki Putin just bombed a children’s hospital, but @Facebook, @instagram @Twitter & @YouTube are still showing Russia's state-run RTWhy are you profiting off Putin's propaganda?!Remove Russia RT from your platforms NOW! pic.twitter.com/W0wkWKAZpX— Sacha Baron Cohen (@SachaBaronCohen) March 9, 2022NME has reached out to representatives for all the respective companies.As posted on the updates blog for Meta – the rebrand of Facebook who also own Instagram – the company states they have restricted access to RT and Sputnik in Ukraine, the UK and across the EU.In an update on March 1, the blog reads: “In addition to restricting access to RT and Sputnik across the EU, we are now globally demoting content from Facebook Pages and Instagram accounts from Russian state-controlled media outlets and making them harder to find across our platforms. “We have also begun to demote posts that contain links to Russian state-controlled media websites on Facebook.
Amazon and Meta Platforms are ramping up efforts in support of Ukraine, with Amazon’s measures including pulling the plug on Prime Video and shipments in Russia.
Subscription streaming service Netflix has joined the Russia boycott.
Salford's mayor has called on the government to sanction Gazprom and to make it easier for councils to exclude the Russian gas firm from the usual contract tendering process.
The Czech Republic’s Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (KVIFF) has added to the film community voices addressing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Ethan Shanfeld The American branch of Russian state-funded media network Russia Today (RT) is shutting down and laying off most of its staff, CNN reports.According to a memo, RT America will be “ceasing production” due to “unforeseen business interruption events.”“Unfortunately, we anticipate this layoff will be permanent, meaning that this will result in the permanent separation from employment of most T&R employees at all locations,” the memo said (via CNN).Per CNN, Misha Solodovnikov, the general manager of T&R Productions, the production company behind RT, delivered the news in person to hosts, correspondents, producers and others in the Washington, D.C. bureau.
Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorReddit has banned users from posting links to Kremlin-affiliated outlets such as RT and Sputnik, joining a growing number of internet companies in blocking Russian state media amid that country’s attack on Ukraine.“While many communities on Reddit already prohibited links to Russian state media outlets like RT, Sputnik, and their foreign-language affiliates, we have made such restrictions universal across the site in all geographies,” Reddit said in a statement.In addition, the popular discussion-community site said, it will “continue not to accept advertisements that target Russia or originate from any Russia-based entity, government or private.” Reddit said it’s assisting affected employees in Ukraine, including providing advanced income payments and housing allowances and supporting their relocation. Reddit joins other internet media platforms that have restricted or blocked Russian state-controlled media in recent days, including YouTube, Meta, Snapchat and Spotify.“The conflict in Ukraine has been shocking and upsetting,” Reddit said in a March 2 blog post.
Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefMeta, the tech giant that controls the Facebook, Whatsapp and Instagram social media platforms, said that it has restricted access to Russian state media within the European Union. The moves are intended to limit the spread of Russian propaganda during the country’s invasion of Ukraine.“We have received requests from a number of governments and the European Union to take further steps in relation to Russian state-controlled media.
Twitter will label tweets that link to content from Russian state-affiliated media websites amid concerns over the spread of disinformation.
The Stockholm Film Festival, due to run November 9-20, says it will not program any films that benefit from Russian state funding due to Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.