Netflix has halted service in Russia in the wake of the country’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.
“Given the circumstances on the ground, we have decided to suspend our service in Russia,” a spokesperson for Netflix said on Sunday.
Netflix’s move continues a cultural blowback that has seen every major Hollywood studio pausing putting films out in Russia. On Feb. 28, Disney announced it would pull films from the country, with Warner Bros. following suit within hours by announcing it was pulling The Batman at the eleventh hour.
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Sony, Paramount and Universal have also pledged to stop putting films out in the country, with tentpoles no longer planning releases including Morbius (Sony), Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Paramount) and Michael Bay’s Ambulance (Universal).
On Feb. 28, Netflix had shared that, “given the current situation,” it will not carry Russian state television channels despite a Russian law that went into effect at the beginning of March. And earlier this week, Netflix halted production on all upcoming Russian-language series, including a contemporary re-telling of Anna Karenina — the streamer’s first original Russian series — and Zato, a neo-noir detective drama. The streamer reportedly has fewer than 1 million subscribers in Russia, out of its total 222 million globally.
Major social platforms have also halted service or been banned in Russia over a Russian law concerning “fake news.” On Sunday, TikTok said it was suspending new uploads and live-streaming in Russia as the company reviews the “safety implications” of the newly implemented law. Earlier in the week, Russia’s communications agency blocked access to Facebook in retaliation over the platform’s restrictions on state-owned media outlets like Russia Today and Sputnik in the European Union.
Elsewhere, the Ukrainian Film Academy has called for a boycott of Russian cinema and the Cannes Film Festival has expressed solidarity with Ukraine. Upcoming concerts from Green Day and Louis Tomlinson have been cancelled in the wake of the conflict.
Vladimir Putin launched Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24 and is continuing throughout multiple major cities. Over a million Ukrainians have fled to other E.U. countries, while many remain internally displaced. (THR)
