{
"post": {
"title": "Games platform Steam removes more than 260 ‘banned items’ in Russia",
"selftext": "",
"url": "https://novayagazeta.eu/articles/2024/10/15/games-platform-steam-removes-more-than-260-banned-items-in-russia-en-news"
},
"comments": [
{
"body": "Note the article's title says \"removed\", but their own source doesn't clarify whether the games were removed or made inaccessible in Russia, or what they even are:\n\n> “Steam has met the requirements of the law and removed the prohibited information. … The platform removed more than 260 items containing illegal content in total,” Roskomnadzor said.\n\n> The Russian media regulator did not clarify what the items in question were, or whether Steam had removed them altogether or had simply made them inaccessible to Russian users.\n\nI don't know what \"illegal content\" is, but it apparently isn't related to the war in Ukraine. There are still plenty of games set in the war from the Ukrainian side available for sale outside of Russia. The last ~2 weeks of package updates on SteamDB also don't have any mass removals. What else would Russian government want removed *and* make it into a public statement?",
"replies": [
{
"body": "rainbow logo, banners, etc, rainbow six siege, anything lgbt related probably",
"replies": [
{
"body": "More than likely, I assume, is some Steam community with some post that would cause those RKN shitheads to enforce blocks. Could be anything if it's user content, just like 7tv website was banned for some random \"kissing homies\" emote"
}
]
},
{
"body": "Over the past months Roskomnadzor (RKN, a russian agency in charge of removing access to illegal content on the web) added 11 Steam community pages to the list of the illicit content. It happened before, and steam had always deleted (or blocked in Russia, idk) similar pages. In the past steam did it swiftly, but now it took months, and we started to worry that RKN might block steam in Russia.\n\nAs far as I know, the list of those 11 banned community pages is not publicly available, but judging from previous cases they likely contained instructions on drug making, or pornographic materials or something like that. Idk, maybe they contained leaked photos of Putin making out with his FSB clone. I am just glad I won't need to jump through any additional hoops to use Steam"
},
{
"body": "Based on the recent removal from discord it's probably anything that suggests gay humans exist."
},
{
"body": "[removed]",
"replies": [
{
"body": ">90% of FPS games would have to go.\n\nThere's really only a handful of shooters that do that outside of AAA military slop (ie COD/Battlefield). Off the top of my head, only Vanquish, Battlezone 98 (and its sequel), Singularity, and Freedom Fighters come to mind.",
"replies": [
{
"body": "Dont forget milsims like arma and its derivatives"
},
{
"body": " Metal Gear?",
"replies": [
{
"body": "Not primarily a shooter."
}
]
},
{
"body": "AAA military slop is the majority of fps games",
"replies": [
{
"body": "Definitely not, especially in recent years."
}
]
}
]
},
{
"body": "have no problem with that"
}
]
}
]
},
{
"body": "I wonder if someone will be able to compile a list of what was removed.",
"replies": [
{
"body": "probably something like this https://store.steampowered.com/curator/11934326-LGBTQ-Inclusive-Gaming/",
"replies": [
{
"body": "I don't know why is this downvoted, because this is an obvious target for Russia.\n\nIt's not deleted, but possibly blocked for Russian users."
}
]
},
{
"body": "Compared to the number of games removed for Germany this is a small amount. Germany has requested all unrated games on Steam be banned, which numbers in the 10s of thousands."
},
{
"body": "Metro Exodus SteamDB had some update 8 days ago and they have no price in Russia. That game also was accused of being \"Russophobic\" for letting you destroy Lenin statue back when it released lol\n\nhttps://steamdb.info/sub/298828/info/"
}
]
},
{
"body": "What is legal in Russia besides sucking Putin's dick?",
"replies": [
{
"body": "Joining the military "
},
{
"body": "Drinking nothing but vodka."
},
{
"body": "tossing his salad",
"replies": [
{
"body": "gargling his balls"
}
]
},
{
"body": "[Domestic violence.](https://hir.harvard.edu/putins-other-war/amp/)"
}
]
},
{
"body": "Russia is a shit hole.",
"replies": [
{
"body": "Thanks, as if we don't know"
},
{
"body": "At risk of sounding like a counter op, I just want to point out half of America has banned porn without government identification. So we may not be doing much better in terms of what is and isn’t allowed.",
"replies": [
{
"body": "That's not really true. There are age verification laws but that's only for sites they care about (like Pornhub), any rando can just look up breasts without ID.",
"replies": [
{
"body": "It’s not for sites they care about it’s the first step in getting the law passed because handling all NSFW material is harder to pass on first go. But it will worsen over time now that the precedent they’ve been trying to get across has been laid.\n\nThe law is for sites that have 30%+ of NSFW material. Targeting porn sites but not exclusively porn."
}
]
},
{
"body": "You can talk shit about the current president of the US on social media without getting sent to the gulag.",
"replies": [
{
"body": "I wasn’t saying they are equal. I was pointing out the US isn’t far being in this specific way"
}
]
},
{
"body": "Half of its population or half of its land? Because by my very rough count age verification laws only exist for about 18% of the US population.\n\nAnd as other people have pointed out it's way more targeted than you suggested. They're stupid laws, and probably illegal, but it's not a blanket porn ban.",
"replies": [
{
"body": "Half of its state governments."
},
{
"body": "Also, try about 40% of the US population. Idk where the hell you got 18%",
"replies": [
{
"body": "The article I first read said 8 states had passed them. [Apparently it's actually up to 19, so I undercounted.](https://action.freespeechcoalition.com/age-verification-bills/) Whoops! \n\nBut that still means you're completely wrong in your 3 different \"totally not defending Russia, guys!\" posts.",
"replies": [
{
"body": "3 posts? You mean 1? Where are the other 2?"
}
]
}
]
}
]
}
]
},
{
"body": "[deleted]",
"replies": [
{
"body": "Yes. It was a shithole.",
"replies": [
{
"body": "[deleted]",
"replies": [
{
"body": "If you visit the touristy parts of any city they look nice. Are you that ignorant?",
"replies": [
{
"body": "[deleted]",
"replies": [
{
"body": "Stop calling me mate. Since you want to talk like you're \"Mr. Worldwide\", I've been all over the world. Russia is one of the worst places I have ever lived. This is my opinion having lived there for an extended period for a project I don't want to talk about.",
"replies": [
{
"body": "there is no way it is worse than Paris"
},
{
"body": "[deleted]",
"replies": [
{
"body": "Imagine thinking living in Slough is worse than living in a literal dictatorship. Congratulations. You are now part of the misinformation campaign about how Russia is \"misunderstood\".\n\nNo one is stopping you from moving there, by the way. I just hope you have something warm for when they ship you to the frontline."
}
]
}
]
}
]
}
]
},
{
"body": "Russian soldiers looted toilets and washing machines from Ukrainian homes when they invaded. Russia is a shithole.",
"replies": [
{
"body": "[deleted]",
"replies": [
{
"body": "Uh oh, suddenly \"us soldiers did worse rhetoric\" 😂\n\n\nI think youre outing yourself here."
},
{
"body": "Don't worry, russians did worse, too. Rape, massacre, torture, and many, many others. So, no place for whataboutism here"
}
]
}
]
}
]
}
]
}
]
},
{
"body": "Russians still live better than around 6.5 billion people.",
"replies": [
{
"body": "On what metric? Your feelings?",
"replies": [
{
"body": "> On what metric? \n\nHis Kremlin approved propaganda.",
"replies": [
{
"body": "IMF, UN.",
"replies": [
{
"body": "Yeah, you just pulled that out of your ass."
}
]
}
]
}
]
}
]
}
]
},
{
"body": "Can Steam just remove Russia",
"replies": [
{
"body": "Russia makes up a large portion of Steam, so I can't see Valve doing that if they don't want to lose a lot of money.\n\nThey didn't block Russia from their own games, even as a protest of the Ukraine war, so can't see them doing it for all of Steam.\n\nRussian language is the 3rd most used on Steam, after Simplified Chinese and English. Bear in mind that it could also include people using that language but aren't in the country, but I imagine the majority are living in that country.\n\nhttps://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/Steam-Hardware-Software-Survey-Welcome-to-Steam",
"replies": [
{
"body": "yep! theres a massive audience from russia\n\n> Valve doing that if they don't want to lose a lot of money.\n\nValve currently doesnt accept money from russian IPs or their currency, there are workarounds for them to buy steam gift cards online but mostly the russian audiences are just playing pre owned or f2p games.\n\npunishing random civilians trying to play video games because some lunatics they didnt elect doesnt seem fair or of any good use"
},
{
"body": "Yeah, who needs morals when you have money"
}
]
},
{
"body": "Maybe i'm out of the loop or didn't get the right memo or something... but wasn't there something like SANCTIONS against Russia? \nLike so they can't move money around via Banks or whatever... \nHow is Steam even walking around publicly stating they are doing business with Russia at all without anyone calling them out for it, without any legal repercussions for circumventing sanctions? \n\nIs there an exception for Videogames or what piece to the puzzle am i missing?",
"replies": [
{
"body": "noone cares about the gaming industry. thats why. even though its the biggest entertainment industry. but its \"just videogames\"\n\nmeanwhile russian bots continue to make thousands in dota, csgo and team fortress 2",
"replies": [
{
"body": "No one cares in general for all the mentioned issues i'd say xD lemme be straight: When you owe Steam, or Russia, or any other company/brand or state, and money revolves (they do, always) around the matter, no one cares about morales or any other thing that the population would even slightly think about. The more you have money, the less you care for anything but profit.",
"replies": [
{
"body": "There are people who care, they're just forced to be subtle.",
"replies": [
{
"body": "Of course, but if they wouldn't put profit or business above those matters, they'd be obliterated out of their privileged positions. Not because of \"cOnsPiraCy\", but just because the others would not see this hypothetical owner as \"trustworthy\" on business matters. That's just... economy, idk how to call that, reality in our society. Can be disappointing, but it's just the same story over and over. Money over anything else."
}
]
}
]
}
]
}
]
}
]
},
{
"body": "When are they removing all the Russian propaganda?"
},
{
"body": "How come Steam isn't reprimanded by the US state for it still being available in Russia? Other companies have been fined for continuing to do business there.",
"replies": [
{
"body": "steam has stopped all sales to russia long ago(march 2nd, 2022), they are either playing f2p games or games previously purchased",
"replies": [
{
"body": "This is not true. We have lost the ability to buy games directly from our bank cards or top up our Steam wallet. But now we simply top up Steam through intermediaries with a commission of 5-15% (depending on the intermediary). 98% of games can still be bought, but some studios have closed sales of their games for Russia. I can't buy new Bethesda games, but the ones I have already bought work fine.",
"replies": [
{
"body": "yes there are workarounds via gifting and steam gift cards but you cannot pay for things from russian credit or bank cards on steam"
}
]
}
]
},
{
"body": "They are almost certainly complying with the letter of the sanctions. Russia isn't under a complete embargo like Cuba so there are perfectly legal workarounds. Obviously its not in the spirit of the sanctions but Valve don't really care about that."
}
]
},
{
"body": "what items"
},
{
"body": "If they comply with laws of other countries, why wouldn't they comply with the same thing from Russia. Makes sense."
},
{
"body": "steep hobbies dinosaurs soup absorbed boat threatening run bag chunky\n\n *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev/home)*"
},
{
"body": "guess it’s out with the trash and in with the treasure"
},
{
"body": "Steam should remove itself from Russia."
},
{
"body": "[deleted]",
"replies": [
{
"body": "steam blocked all russian purchases march 2, 2022"
}
]
},
{
"body": "Remove CS and Dota and there might be a revolution in Russia."
},
{
"body": "Gotta force your population to breed to replace the dead soldiers somehow. Banning homosexuals is what the Putin oligarchy decided on."
},
{
"body": "Beltalowda up the stage! Unpaid overtime time."
}
]
}