Dzen News
Russian online news aggregator
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dzen News (tr. Zen Novosti; formerly Yandex.News) is a Russian news aggregator. It was developed by Yandex in 2000 and acquired by VK in 2022.[1]
| Dzen News | |
|---|---|
| |
| Initial release | 21 June 2000 |
| Available in | Russian and Ukrainian languages |
| Type | News aggregator |
| Website | dzen |
Zen.News aggregates articles submitted by publishers via RSS 2.0 and ranks them according to various parameters. The articles are sorted and added to collections related to key events (so-called Stories). The process is automated.[2] Since 2016, the service only aggregates publications from publishers with a license issued by Roskomnadzor.[3]
In July 2019, the monthly audience of Zen.News (Yandex.News) totaled 34 million users. It had a market share of 36% in Russia.[4]
Controversies
In 2014, a report stated that the government of Moscow manipulated Zen.News (Yandex.News) search results by running a network of local online newspapers that provided positive coverage of city events.[5] In many contexts, such as the Russo-Georgian War, anti-Putin protests in Russia, and the Russo-Ukrainian War, search results and stories were apparently manipulated, though the service denied such accusations.[6][7][8]
In 2022, Meduza reported that stories were censored as a part of a secret agreement with the government of Russia.[9]
During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the service allegedly aided state propaganda by suppressing all independent coverage of the Russo-Ukrainian War.[10]
Such practices led to sanctions against the service and key executives.[11][12]