Russian billionaires begin to disappear from Yandex
At least 12 Russian billionaires listed in Forbes have invoked the “right to be forgotten” to remove mentions of themselves from Yandex search results. In some instances, the search engine doesn't even show that materials were hidden," reports NewsBox.
Journalists from the publication "Vyorstka" discovered that no fewer than 12 billionaires on the Russian Forbes 2024 list have utilized the provisions of the “right to be forgotten” law to have references to themselves removed from Yandex's search results.
Among the entrepreneurs whose information is now more difficult to find online are:
- Vyacheslav Kantor ($9.8 billion)
- Andrey Guryev ($9.3 billion)
- Andrey Skoch ($6.7 billion)
- Igor Altushkin ($3.8 billion)
- Mikhail Gutseriev ($3.7 billion)
- Mikhail Shelkov ($3.5 billion, noted in the media as Sergey Chemezov’s "wallet")
- God Nisanov ($2.9 billion, partner of Ilgam Ragimov, a schoolmate of Vladimir Putin)
- Alexander Ponomarenko ($2 billion)
- Denis Shtengelov ($1.3 billion)
- Oleg Boyko ($1.2 billion)
- Gleb Fetisov ($1.2 billion)
- Saida Gutseriev ($1.2 billion)
When attempting to find information on these businessmen, Yandex occasionally displays a message stating that “some search results are hidden in accordance with Federal Law No. 264-FZ of 13.07.2015.”
The “right to be forgotten” law has been in effect in Russia since 2015. According to Yandex's guidelines, for information to be removed, an applicant must provide verification of the falsity of the data, usually in the form of a court ruling on defamation or protection of honor and dignity. However, according to "Vyorstka," legal claims were found for only four of the twelve businessmen in court records.