Vladimir Putin did not invent censorship in Russia, far from it. Already, under the tsars, Léon Tolstoy had to deal with Madame Anastasie and Fiodor Dostoyevski was forced to silence. Today, power applies a version 2.0 of this spirits control by scanning and altering foreign television productions. This invisible but omnipresent filter shapes each dialogue, each image seen by millions of Russians fond of American series, writes the New York Times.
With the war in Ukraine, the demand for entertainment exploded. Russian streaming platforms have tripled their sales since 2022 and offer hundreds of foreign films and series, sometimes from their release. But behind the window, the offer has radically changed and the TV series that your Muscovite friends watch are not entirely the same as yours. Between 64 hours of content deleted on 152 western series just this month of August 2025, titles produced by HBO Max and AMC broadcast in cut versions and dubbing that sweeters any sensitive subject, the result has much more to do with the original.
No intimacy between men, no allusion to abortion, logos of blurred Western brands, jokes on Vladimir Putin retracted … Each trace of a vision of the alternative world to that of the Kremlin is systematically erased. Homosexual marriage becomes a “Alliance of friendship”allusions to Pete Buttigieg – a Gay American politician – are shortened to hide the presence of her husband, etc. The simple appearance of a rainbow or “suspect” colors can justify the censorship of an entire scene.
“It’s hard to imagine how a Russian spectator can succeed in following a story after such a carnage. The stories no longer make any sense ”summarizes Mika Golubovsky, journalist for the Russian online media Mediazona and initiator of a vast algorithmic analysis of the versions broadcast on the Russian platform Amediateka.
Some examples? The incestuous relationship between Cersei Lannister and his brother, central in the intrigue of Game of Thronesis purely and simply erased. Ditto for The Walking Dead And the pregnancy to which Lori Grimes plans to end. Finally when the name of Vladimir Putin is mentioned during a meal scene The White Lotus.
Normalization of preservatives
Why this interference? To better stick to the nationalist and conservative agenda of the regime, which classified the “LGBT international movement” as “extremist” in March 2024. Since this turn, a hundred people have already been condemned by the Russian courts for this reason, therefore at least twenty have been the subject of criminal proceedings, according to the NGO Human Rights Watch. The themes linked to abortion, to sex considered to be “deviant” or to the criticism of power are also systematically pruned.
Channels like Amediateka adapt their content all the more since the legal framework is vague. There is no written and official directive, everyone having to anticipate the will of the Kremlin. To avoid fine or prison, the platforms take the lead and censor in turn.
Accomplice silence of American majors
How do so many American news still arrive on Russian platforms? Officially, conglomerates such as Warnermedia have announced the end of business in Russia, “Including the suspension of our channels and any new license agreement”According to a memo sent by the boss Jason Kilar to his employees in March 2022. However, Amediateka broadcast at least forty-six new seasons of HBO Max or other subsidiaries of WarnerMedia since that date, including season 3 of The White Lotus and the first of House of the Dragonreleased from August 2022.
American studios prefer to look away and kick in touch. HBO Max denies any active license, AMC refers to the “Need to adapt the content to the cultural sensitivities of each market”. But for Sara Ramirez, a non -binary actress whose role in And just like that (the rest of Sex and the city) has been largely censored, the explanation does not pass. “It’s disappointing, but not surprising given the context and the global political climate. People Queers and Trans will continue to exist (…), whatever the way in which the entertainment industry cooptes us, monetizes us and presents us on the screen “the actress laments the New York Times.
David Simon, creator of The Wire As for him to insurgent the treatment reserved in Russia for the character of Omar: “Omar Little de Baltimore, in Maryland, is openly gay, he wrote on network X for Russian censors. Although fictitious, it is much more tough and tactically effective than all the conscripts and the liberated thugs that you sent to the slaughterhouse in Ukraine. ”
Have been informed that the two russian streaming services offering the wire in that country have systematically removed scenes and dialogue indicating that omar little is homosexual.
Be advised, you backward fucks, that Omar Little of Baltimore, Maryland is unapologetically…– David Simon (@Adespair) October 11, 2024
Some Russians go beyond this censorship by hacking the contents or using VPNs, but the controls and blockages are tightened, restricting access to a version of the world not filtered by Moscow. “Platforms adapt to local standards, but that should never be done at the expense of the story or artistic freedom”estimates Mika Golubovsky.
