Weekly Digest: Russia’s Yandex Selling Its News Service, YouTube Podcasting Move

Russian tech giant Yandex is relinquishing its news service to the state-controlled social media platform VK (VKontakte). The deal also includes Yandex’s blogging platform Zen and its main webpage yandex.ru; in exchange, Yandex will receive VK-owned food delivery service Delivery Club.

Recently, especially after Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine, Yandex News has become the target of criticism for complying with the Kremlin and broadcasting only official Russian propaganda. The news aggregator became a pain for the company – which operates a popular search engine and various other internet services – and has been one of the rationales for EU sanctions against the company’s executives.

According to previous press reports, Yandex has been looking for ways to get rid of the news service while not angering Putin’s government. Plans for this deal had been reported before, but this week both companies reached a binding agreement that includes previously unreported details. 

Even though Yandex News had already conformed to Russian government demands, the sale to a company directly controlled by the state is symbolic of the media crackdown and tightening state censorship.

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2022 has already become the deadliest year on record for Mexican journalists, and the death toll continues to rise. On Monday, journalist Fredid Román was shot and killed in Chilpancingo, a city in Southwestern Mexico.

“According to Pablo Israel Vázquez, the editor of Vértice de Chilpancingo, Román, 60, had worked for 35 years as a reporter for several regional newspapers in Guerrero”, the Committee to Protect Journalists notes.

The motive behind the killing has not been confirmed yet. At least 18 other journalists have been killed in Mexico so far this year, Reuters highlights, making the country one of the most dangerous places for press in the world. 

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YouTube is launching a dedicated page for podcasts. Available only in the United States and in the rollout phase so far, the page features podcast recommendations, particularly most popular shows.

As The Verge notes, even though the page isn’t as well-developed as other podcast platforms, it might not be a problem for YouTube as it is already a dominant platform for podcasts, even though its “presence in the podcasting space happened more by osmosis than as a deliberate strategy.”

Bonus — Five more stories you might want to check out:

• NBC News: Google is trying out ‘pre-bunking’ in an effort to counter misinformation 
• The New York Times: Facebook, Twitter and Others Remove Pro-U.S. Influence Campaign 
• The Guardian: BBC staff to publish damning report on planned merger of news channels
• Reuters: Finnish journalists on trial in rare defence intelligence case
• The Guardian: Guardian Media Group appoints Anna Bateson as chief executive

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