Netflix announced on Sunday that it is suspending its service in Russia, becoming the latest tech company to halt or restrict its offerings in Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.
“Given the circumstances on the ground, we have decided to suspend our service in Russia," said a Netflix spokesperson quoted by The Hill.
The announcement from Netflix came less than a week after the streaming company said it was pausing "all future projects and acquisitions from Russia while we assess the impact of the current events.”
Netflix had four Russian-language series in production and post-production stages when it announced its pause, according to The Hill.
Netflix is somewhat new to Russia, having launched in the country in 2016. The streaming company currently has about 1 million Russian subscribers among its more than 200 million subscribers worldwide.
Several companies have taken steps against Russia since it launched its invasion of Ukraine. On Sunday, TikTok announced it is immediately halting livestreaming and the posting of new content from Russia.
Last week Meta, the parent company of Facebook, announced that it would be restricting access to Russian state-controlled media in Europe, including RT and Sputnik.
Meta added that content from Russia state-controlled media would be demoted on Facebook and Instagram, and that links from those outlets would be labeled in order to give “context” to people who do access them.
Music streaming giant Spotify announced last Wednesday it is closing its Russia-based office and removing Russian state-sponsored content from its service.
Twitter began taking steps against Russian content on Tuesday, announcing that it would be labeling all websites affiliated with the Russian government and reducing the circulation of their content.
Over at Google, its Google Maps service is no longer showing live traffic data in Ukraine out of concern that it could be used by Russia to identify troop movements. Google Pay has stopped working in Russia, and YouTube has announced that it will begin blocking channels that have links to Russia state-backed media outlets across Europe, due to their “spread of disinformation.” Google’s Alphabet has begun blocking mobile apps connected to RT and Sputnik media from its Play store.
Apple is no longer selling its products in Russia and has removed RT’s and Sputnik’s apps from its App Store outside Russia. Following in Google’s footsteps it has disabled traffic incidents on its Apple Maps in Ukraine.
Major credit card companies Visa, MasterCard and American Express have also decided to halt operations in Russia in recent days.