Popular American-based subscription streaming service, Netflix, previously made the declaration that they will be suspending their systems throughout Russia. This specific news was brought to light this past Monday, March 7, 2022, and is reportedly done in response to the country’s recent attack and invasion of Ukraine. Representatives over at the widely-used video application, TikTok, have also made the public announcement that they will be preventing Russian users and content creators from being able to upload fresh material.
A spokesperson from Netflix released a statement in regards to their restriction towards Russia: “We have no choice but to suspend live streaming and new content to our video service in Russia while we review the safety implications of this law.” According to the United Nations, approximately 1.6 million people have rushed out of their homeland of Ukraine in hopes of finding a safe place to stay with the necessities it takes to survive, not to mention the hundreds of innocent people who lost their lives and were not even given the opportunity to search for stability.
Netflix presently withholds a total of 222 million global subscribers and has vowed to officially make their 2015 documentary, Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom, obtainable for free on their service. The streaming giant also denied the previous partnership Russia had offered to air individual news channels onto their platform. As Netflix continues to exclude Russian citizens from gaining access to their service, this action will not seem to have an effect on the source’s overall user total when considering their main audience comes from the United States.