VK has become a big beneficiary of the recent Russia affair ban its competitors. In March, the platform hit a record 50 million daily users, became the country’s most popular social networking site after Facebook and Instagram were blocked. VK newsfeed views increased by 24% and video views by 15% in the first month of the war, follow for Moscow-based data company Brand Analytics. VK has also actively pursued its competitors’ customers, publishing step-by-step guides for businesses on how to move out of the international market. communication.
The VK company has become quite different from the company founded in 2006 by Pavel Durov, who later set up the messaging app Telegram. In the early days, content on VK was a microcosm of Russia’s best and worst internet, which the government would later use to combat it. Pirated music and pornography are rampant on this platform and the authorities complain about child sexual abuse material on the website. According to developer Oleg Illarionov, who joined VK in 2010, there was only one person in charge of content moderation at the time.
“We are used to the idea that the Internet is open, completely free, we can do whatever we want,” says Andrew Rogozov, who started working at the company from 2007 on. and we just have to abide by our own moderation rules. become the CEO. “In those days, there were no regulations at all,” he added. “And [government takedown] requests are very random and spontaneous. “
Russia’s internet remained unregulated until 2012, a year after election fraud allegations left thousands of people demonstrations across the country, in the so-called “snow revolution. “The top faction in the Kremlin realized that social media was a major channel of information, and then they started trying to stifle it,” said Vladimir Barash, chief scientist at social media analytics firm Graphika. said.
Just a few months after his re-election in 2012, Putin approved law created a blacklist of websites that the government deems harmful to children. Since then, the relationship between VK and the authorities has deteriorated further. Although a open that appears to indicate that Durov was discussing sharing users’ personal data with Russian security services, who worked with Durov at the time, saying he was committed to free speech. . “From the very beginning, he decided not to comply with anything,” said Illarionov. “I would say he’s the biggest admirer of free speech out of all the people I know.”
Tensions between the company and the government flared up in 2014, after VK denied to remove posts and groups related to the anti-Euromaidan movement in Ukraine, company insiders told WIRED. That year, authorities searched VK’s office and the police allege that Durov ran over a policeman in a white Mercedes, forcing the founder hide. Durov, who did not respond to WIRED’s request for comment, resignation in April, said he was then pressured to sell his 12% stake in the business. After VK’s two other co-founders also sold their shares, the platform eventually came under full control of the Mail.ru group, an internet business majority owned by Usmanov. The British government, which sanctioned Usmanov in March, describe him as a leading oligarch and an associate of Putin.
But Durov did not leave empty-handed; estimated he received about 300 million dollars as part of the agreement. “This is the same strategy that was used when there was consolidation of the oil industry,” said Ruben Enikolopov, a professor of economics at Barcelona’s Pompeu Fabra University. “So they don’t force people to sell for free, they force people to sell their properties.”
