Publication date: 21 Apr 2023

On 21 April, Roskomnadzor added the resources of streamers engaged in illegal casino advertising to its register of banned websites.  The list of blocked ones includes the accounts of streamers on Twitch, Telegram and Kick.

In particular, the accounts of GENERALQW / Viktor Nigrini, INDIAN0CH / Oleg Gorbenko, KYIVSTONER / Albert Vasiliev, RXNEXUS / Igor Lysakovsky, FOLLOWKUDES / Ilnur Khafizov, VERSUTA / Aren Zurabyan will be blocked by order of the RCN, N3KOGLAI / Nikolay Lebedev, KHOVANSKYTODAY / Yury Khovansky, EGORKREED / Egor Kreed, ZUBAREFF / Alexander Zubarev, A1TAODA / Igor Saiganov, FARBIZZBAT9 / Kirill and Alexander Volynkin, GUSEINNEWS / Gusein Gasanov, MELLSTROY / Andrey Burim.

The Federal Tax Service also reported that “a set of control and analytical measures concerning the possible presence of tax law violations has been organized”.

Where it all began: …

On 10 April 2023, The Safe Internet League published a new list of streamers accused of illegally promoting online casinos.

The list includes 23 new streamers with an audience of between 4.6 million and 35,000 subscribers. 

• Among those who advertise casinos on YouTube are Edward Bil / Eduard Bil, APASNAYARUKA / Vadim Artemov, PEREC – KLYGER (Valery Link and Alexander Kudrov), VJLINK / Kirill Zyryanov, MEETEN SHOW / Artur Mitin, Dmitry Treputin.
• Twitch.TV marked Sveta Sollar, Dasha Kareyka/ Daria Makarova, ICEBERGDOTO / Bogdan Vasilenko, SHADOWKEKW / Maxim Pavlov, Mihalina Novakovskaya, SINDICS / Tatiana Gracheva, LUXURY GIRL / Polina Marchenko, SEINTYS / Andrey Kufanov, BARBIEGIRL / Tatiana Bendyug, ESKHATO, BAXADOTO / Bakytzhan Kaldymurinov, GN_GG / Ivan Katyshev, 97ZONER / Alexander Bogatyrev, 252MART.
• EVELONE / Vadim Kazakov, STEEL / Samvel Oganjanyan are broadcasting gambling on Kick.com.
• Telegram: Nikita Vorozhbitov.

The Safe Internet League has again sent appeals to Roskomnadzor and the Russian Federal Tax Service asking them to take action to restrict illegal content.

On 10 April, the SIL also updated the lists of those who “continued to stream illegal online casino advertisements”. Eighteen streamers/bloggers have not given up their illegal activities.

“Thanks to everyone who takes part in this work and sends us examples of illegal advertising. We have already received 7,100 appeals on this topic. The work of our team in this direction continues,” said Ekaterina Mizulina.

In March 2023, the struggle against illegal casino advertising intensified in Russia. 

The Association of Bloggers and Agencies (ABA) has developed a special tool to regulate the market for influencer marketing. It will help identify unscrupulous bloggers who promote banned goods and services.

By using the telegram bot (@aba_blacklist_search_bot), legal entities and ABA members can leave complaints about the quality of service, violation of the law or failure to meet deadlines.

In order to lodge a complaint, it is necessary not only to describe the situation in detail, but also to attach supporting documents.

Moreover, the moderators handle all complaints individually, so that false accusations are avoided.

• The bot has a “check” mode: to find out if there are any complaints about a nickname from a social media link.

The result will be a special list, with bloggers classified into several categories:

• Those who have received more than 3 complaints from different sources are put on the “Black zone” with serious irregularities. ABA members refuse to work with these bloggers.
• The “Yellow zone” includes bloggers who have received one or two complaints; working with them may entail financial and legal risks.

On 29 March 2023, the first bloggers to be blacklisted by the ABA became known:

• Mellstroi and Nekoglai’s Twitch accounts, as well as YouTube blogger Khovansky, appeared in the “Black zone” for advertising online casinos and gambling.
• The “Yellow zone” (bloggers with few complaints) is still empty.

Even earlier, in February 2023, the Safe Internet League (SIL) published its list of bloggers who promote gambling illegally.

According to the SIL, about 30 streamers on Twitch are engaged in gambling advertising in Russia, with an audience of between 70,000 and 600,000 subscribers each. The list of bloggers accused of promoting online casinos includes Vadim Karavaev /Karavay46, Igor Saiganov / A1TAODA, Arsen Zubarian / Versuta, Kirill Volynkin / FarbizzbaT9, Petr0vich99, Ilnur Khafizov / FollowKudes, Igor Lysakovsky / RxNexus, Albert Vasilyev / KyivStoner, Ivan Demkin / MistaFaker, Nikita Sokolov / K4T4N4, Oleg Gorbenko / IndiaNoch, Evgeny Alexeyev / Sh4dowehhh, Valeria Vysotskaya / morphe_ya, Viktor Nigrini / Generalqv, cah4ec_legend.

Previously, bloggers with Telegram, Instagram*, YouTube and Kick accounts were added to the Safe Internet League list: Gusein Gasanov, Egor Kreed / EGORKREED, Yury Khovansky, Nikolay Lebedev / N3KOGLAI, Arthur Nerchuk / ZLOYN, Alexander Zubarev and Andrey Burim / MELLSTROY.

A separate list of particularly persistent offenders advertising online casinos from 2016-2018 included Viktor Khlusov / Vitus and Daniil Lukin / DANLUDAN.

On 13 March, the list was sent to Roskomnadzor (RKN) and the Federal Tax Service (FTS), asking the agencies to take measures to curb the distribution of illegal content.

On March 28, the Russian Investigative Committee joined the fight against bloggers. The SIL clarified that documents for the question of initiating criminal proceedings under Article 171.2 of the Criminal Code (“illegal organisation and conduct of gambling”) had been sent to the agency by Roskomnadzor. Penalties for committing the crime range from 300,000 to 500,000 roubles; it is also possible to receive punishment in the form of obligatory work, or up to four years of restricted freedom, or up to two years of imprisonment.

To complain about bloggers can be done anonymously on the Safe Internet League website in a special section “Online casino advertising”. To do so, simply provide the website address and the source of the information (email, chat room, forum, guestbook, news groups, message boards, knowledge bank).

*The Instagram service is owned by the extremist Meta and is blocked in Russia by court decision.