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Russia Bans Access to MyAnimeList Website

The Russia-based news website The Moscow Times reported last Tuesday that Russia has banned anime database website MyAnimeList due to "extremist" LGBTQ+ content. Roskomnadzor, the Russian federal agency that oversees mass media in Russia, put MyAnimeList on the national blacklist of sites citing "systematic placement of materials containing information propagating non-traditional sexual relations and/or preference." MyAnimeList currently shows an error message in Russia.

Roskomnadzor stated that it could reverse the ban if MyAnimeList removed content "deemed unlawful in Russia."

The Supreme Court in Russia declared the LGBT movement to be "extremist" in 2023.

The St. Petersburg's Kolpinsky district court in Russia banned the Death Note, Inuyashiki, Tokyo Ghoul, and Elfen Lied anime from distribution several websites in February 2021. The prosecution stated in December 2020 regarding one of the series that "every episode contains cruelty, murder, [and] violence."

MyAnimeList launched in 2005, and DeNA purchased the site in 2015. Media Do Holdings later acquired the site from DeNA in January 2019.

E-book distributor Media Do Holdings announced on March 26 that it has sold all of its shares in MyAnimeList to Tokyo-based Web3 and AI company Gaudiy. Media Do noted that it expects to record an "extraordinary gain" in the first quarter of its fiscal year ending February 28, 2026, amounting to 531 million yen (about US$3.5 million).

Source: The Moscow Times