Netflix, a global streaming entertainment service, top accounting firms KPMG and PwC and financial services firm American Express have cut ties with Russia on Sunday for invading Ukraine.
Gatekeepers News reports that Netflix had temporarily stopped all future projects and acquisitions in Russia as it monitors the impact of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
“Given the circumstances on the ground, we have decided to suspend our service in Russia,” the Netflix spokesperson said.
Netflix revealed that it has no plans to add state-run channels to its Russian service, despite a regulation that would require it to distribute state-backed channels.
Similarly, two of the Big Four accounting firms KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) said on Sunday they will no longer have a member firm in Russia following the ongoing crisis.
The auditing and consultancy giant KPMG said its Russia and Belarus firm will leave the KPMG network, a move that will affect over 4,500 partners and staff in Russia and Belarus.
PwC also agreed PwC Russia will leave its network. The firm has operated in Russia for more than 30 years, and has 3,700 partners and staff there, it said.
“As a result of the Russian government’s invasion of Ukraine we have decided that, under the circumstances, PwC should not have a member firm in Russia and consequently PwC Russia will leave the Network,” PwC said.
Also, American Express Co (AXP.N) said it was suspending all operations in Russia and Belarus.
“In light of Russia’s ongoing, unjustified attack on the people of Ukraine, American Express is suspending all operations in Russia,” the credit card company said in a statement on its website.
Meanwhile, TikTok, a Chinese-owned video app, on Sunday announced that it would suspend live-streaming and the uploading of videos to its platform in Russia as it reviews the implications of a new media law signed on Friday by President Vladimir Putin.
“We have no choice but to suspend live streaming and new content to our video service while we review the safety implications of this law,” the social media company said in a series of Twitter posts. It said in-app messaging would not be affected by the decision.
Gatekeepers News reports that Putin on Friday signed a new media law to clamp down on news and free speech, blocking access to Facebook and major foreign news outlets. He enacted a law to punish anyone spreading “false information” about its Ukraine invasion with up to 15 years in prison.
