Mediazona reported censorship in nearly half of Amediateka’s foreign series

The publication compared foreign series on the service with the originals frame by frame and calculated that almost every second project on Amediateka went through censorship. This is reported by Meduza.

More than half of the total amount cut — 44 hours — was related to LGBTQ themes. Another 12 hours, according to Mediazona, were linked to political censorship: mentions of Vladimir Putin, references to the war in Ukraine, as well as real and fictional facts from the history of Russia or the USSR, were removed from the translations and versions for the service.

In addition, mentions of incest, pedophilia, drugs, and “non-traditional” sex were often removed from the series. In Amediateka adaptations, the wording itself was also censored: the phrase “he is gay” was in some cases replaced with “he is different”.

According to Mediazona, translations for the service are made by partner studios working from a special style guide with translation requirements. Then Amediateka reviews the already translated, edited, and dubbed content and makes additional changes.

Amediateka is the official Russian distributor of HBO, Showtime, AMC, and Warner Bros. series. According to the publication, the service has been held liable at least six times: four reports were drawn up for incorrect age ratings, and two more under the article on “propaganda of non-traditional relations”. Other major streaming services, including Okko and Kinopoisk, show the series specifically in Amediateka’s translations.

Sources

• Material: meduza.io