Ukraine Urges Media to Limit Russian-Language Content

(MENAFN) Ukraine is urging leading Western media platforms like YouTube and Spotify to revise their content recommendation systems to limit exposure to Russian-language material among Ukrainian users.

This was disclosed by the country’s language commissioner, Elena Ivanovskaya, in an interview released on Monday.

In her conversation with a news agency, Ivanovskaya emphasized that Russian content “is not just entertainment, it’s a soft power that subliminally affects consciousness, normalizes aggression, [and] deludes identity.” She insisted that when users are presented with Russian music or television programs, “it is not a choice, but manipulation.”

She advocated for strategies to ensure that “Russian products do not sound in the background and form unconscious habits.”

Typically, recommendation algorithms are designed to boost user interaction by showing content that is trending or widely viewed by similar audiences.

Ivanovskaya believes this model, when it amplifies Russian media, poses a risk to Ukraine’s cultural identity.

Following the 2014 Western-supported political upheaval in Kiev, Ukrainian leadership has adopted measures to limit the presence of Russian—a language still widely spoken across the country—in public domains.

Legislation now mandates the use of Ukrainian in sectors such as media, education, and business, while government officials continue to encourage citizens to adopt the Ukrainian language even in private conversations.

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