Russia bans anime database MyAnimeList over LGBTQ+ content
The popular anime and manga database website MyAnimeList has been officially banned in Russia.
The site was added to the national blacklist by Roskomnadzor, the country’s federal agency responsible for overseeing mass media.
According to a report from The Moscow Times, the agency cited the “systematic placement of materials containing information propagating non-traditional sexual relations and/or preference” as the reason for the ban.
This action aligns with a 2023 ruling by Russia’s Supreme Court, which declared the international LGBT movement to be “extremist.”
Roskomnadzor has stated that the ban could be reversed if MyAnimeList removes the content that is considered “unlawful in Russia.”
Currently, users within Russia are met with an error message when trying to access the site.
This is not the first time Russian authorities have targeted anime-related content.
In February 2021, a St. Petersburg court banned the distribution of several popular anime series, including Death Note, Tokyo Ghoul, Inuyashiki, and Elfen Lied, with the prosecution claiming at the time that the shows contained “cruelty, murder, [and] violence.”
MyAnimeList, which first launched in 2005, is one of the world’s largest online anime and manga databases.
The ban comes shortly after a major change in the site’s ownership.
On March 26, it was announced that Media Do Holdings had sold all of its shares in MyAnimeList to Gaudiy, a Tokyo-based Web3 and AI company, for an expected extraordinary gain of 531 million yen (approx. $3.5 million).
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