VK (service)
VK (short for its original name VKontakte; Russian: ВКонтакте, meaning InContact) is a Russian online social media and social networking service based in Saint Petersburg. VK is available in multiple languages but it is predominantly used by Russian speakers. VK users can message each other publicly or privately, edit these messages,[3] create groups, public pages, and events; share and tag images, audio, and video; and play browser-based games.[4]
Type of site
86 languages, including Russian, Ukrainian and English
10 October 2006 in Saint Petersburg, Russia
Required
656,000,000+ as of 21 May 2021[2]
10 October 2006
Active
As of August 2018, VK had at least 500 million accounts.[5] As of November 2022, it was the sixth most popular website in Russia.[6] The network was also popular in Ukraine until it was banned by the Verkhovna Rada in 2017.[7]
According to SimilarWeb, VK is the 16th most visited website in the world.[8]
Ownership[edit]
Initially, founder and CEO Pavel Durov owned 20% of shares (although he had majority voting power through proxy votes), and a trio of Russian-Israeli investors Yitzchak Mirilashvili, his father Mikhael Mirilashvili's and Lev Leviev[26] owned 60%, 10%, and 10% respectively.[27] The original founders then sold a stake of 39.99% to Mail.ru Group (formerly Digital Sky Technologies).[28][29]
On 29 May 2012, Mail.ru Group announced its decision to yield control of the company to Durov by offering him the voting rights on its shares. Combined with Durov's personal 12% stake, this gave him 52% of the votes.[30][31]
In April 2013, the Mirilashvili family sold its 40% share in VK to United Capital Partners for $1.12 billion,[32][33] while Lev Leviev sold his 8% share in the same deal, giving United Capital Partners 48% ownership. In January 2014, VK's founder Pavel Durov sold his 12% stake in the company to Ivan Tavrin, the CEO of MegaFon, which is controlled by Alisher Usmanov. Following the deal, Usmanov and his allies controlled around 52% of the company.[34] Shortly thereafter, the CEO of Megafon, sold his 12% stake to Mail.ru, thus allowing Mail.ru to consolidate its controlling stake of 52% in VK.[35]
On 1 April 2014, Durov submitted his resignation to the board; at first, due to the fact the company confirmed he had resigned, it was believed to be related to the Russo-Ukrainian War which began in the previous February.[36] However, Durov himself claimed it was an April Fool's Joke on 3 April 2014.[37] On 21 April 2014, Durov was dismissed as CEO, claiming he failed to withdraw his letter of resignation a month earlier.[38][39] Durov then claimed the company had been effectively taken over by Vladimir Putin's political faction,[38][40] suggesting his dismissal was the result of both his refusal to hand over personal details of users to federal law enforcement and his refusal to hand over the personal details of people who were members of a VKontakte group dedicated to the Euromaidan protest movement.[38][40] Durov then left Russia and stated that he had "no plans to go back"[40] and that "the country is incompatible with Internet business at the moment".[39]
On 16 September 2014, the Mail.ru group bought the remaining 48% stake of VK from United Capital Partners (UCP)[41] for $1.5 billion,[41] thus becoming the sole proprietor of the social network.[42]
In December 2021, Russian state-owned bank Gazprombank and insurance company Sogaz bought out 57.3% of VK shares, thus becoming the holders of the company's controlling interest.[43][44]
Censorship[edit]
On 24 May 2013, it was reported in the media that the site had been mistakenly put on a list of websites banned by the Russian government.[60] Some critics have accused the blacklist as the latest in a series of suspicious incidents to have happened to the website in recent months as a way for the Russian government to increase their stake in, and control of the site.[61]
On 18 November 2013, following an order from the Court of Rome, VK was blocked in Italy after a complaint from Medusa Film stating that it was hosting an illegal copy of one of its films.[62] However, in April 2015, the site was reopened for Italian users and its mobile app is available on both the App Store and Google Play.
In January 2016, China banned VKontakte, claiming that it was manipulating web content and cooperating with the Kremlin. According to Russia's media watchdog, the network estimates around 300,000 users based in China.[63] As of 14 February 2018, China authorities unblocked VKontakte and it was fully accessible in the country.[64]
In May 2017, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed a decree to impose a ban on Mail.ru and its widely used social networks including VKontakte and Odnoklassniki as part of its continued sanctions on Russia for its annexation of Crimea and involvement in the war in Donbas.[21][65][66] Reporters Without Borders condemned the ban, calling it a "disproportionate measure that seriously undermines the Ukrainian people's right to information and freedom of expression."[67] VK closed its office in Ukraine's capital Kyiv in June 2017.[68]
In December 2021, VKontakte's CEO, Boris Dobrodeev resigned from his post. Reuters linked Dobrodeev's resignation to the acquisition of VK's majority interest by two state-owned companies that happened the same month. According to one analyst, the state consolidation of VKontakte would cause greater censorship by the government.[69]
On 12 May 2022, in connection with the sanctions imposed by the European Union (EU), NEPLP decided to limit the activity of "Vkontakte" ("vk.com"), "Odnoklassniki" ("ok.ru") and "Moi mail" ("my.mail.ru") in Latvia. The decision was made because NEPLP has evidence that the platforms are owned and controlled by Yury Kovalchuk and Vladimir Kiriyenko. The mentioned persons are subject to EU sanctions in connection with undermining the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine.[70]
After Russian military invasion of Ukraine, on September 26, 2022, the VK application (as well as other applications of the holding services) was removed from the Apple App Store due to international sanctions.[71][72] On September 28, the Russian communications regulator Roskomnadzor issued a statement demanding an explanation for the removal of the VK application from the App Store.[73] CEO Vladimir Kiriyenko was sanctioned by the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, European Union, Japan, Australia and various countries.[74]
Prosecution of users in Russia[edit]
In July 2012, VKontakte was accused of close cooperation with the Centre for Combating Extremism (Centre E), a unit within the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs heavily criticized for repressing opposition activists.[75][76] For publications, reposts, comments and likes posted on their VKontakte pages, dozens of Russian citizens were sentenced to fines, suspended sentences and imprisonment. Most of the cases against users are qualified as propaganda of extremism, xenophobia and Nazism. Statistically, among all the social networking services available in Russia, the users of VKontakte were targeted by police almost exclusively.[77]
Events and projects[edit]
Automated workplace of a civil servant[edit]
By 2023, on the basis of VK, the “Automated workplace of a civil servant” (АРМ ГС in Russian) was developed, to which it is planned to transfer all Russian civil servants. AWP includes mail, calendar, cloud storage, instant messenger, supports audio and video calls. It should replace Telegram, WhatsApp, Gmail, Google Docs, Zoom and Skype widely used in Russia. Thus, the Russian government intends to exclude foreign services from the public administration system. Officials were supposed to switch to "Automated workplace" from May 1, 2023.
[78]
In June 2023, the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media announced a competition for software developers to "scale" the workspace and provide the necessary level of cryptographic protection. It is planned to spend 9 million rubles on the project.[79]
Hackathons[edit]
VK organized their first 24-hour Hackathon in 2015 from 31 October to 1 November. The participants were invited to develop projects united by a common idea: “Make it Simple!” (Russian: «Упрощайте!»). 34 teams took part in the competition. A prize pool of 300 thousand rubles was split among the winners.[80]
The second VK Hackathon took place from 26 to 27 November 2016. The participants developed projects for the community app platform. The “Search for Lost Cats” (Russian: «Поиск пропавших котиков») app won the “Developers’ Choice” category. The prize pool for the event was 300 thousand rubles.[81]
The third VK Hackathon took place from 20 to 22 October 2017 with 320 participants competing in the event. The prize pool was one million rubles. An application designed to help users navigate the State Hermitage Museum won the “Culture” category.[82]
Start Fellows[edit]
In 2011, Pavel Durov and Yuri Milner created Start Fellows, a grant program founded to support projects in the field of technology.[83] In 2014, VK took over the Start Fellows program and made it more systematic. The grant was provided to 3 companies each month and included project consultation from VK along with 25 thousand rubles a month for advertisement on the VK platform. Winners of the grant include “University Schedules” (Russian: «Расписание вузов»), a scheduling app, LiveCamDroid, a mobile streaming service, HTML Academy, an educational project, and others.[84][85][86][87]
VK re-launched the project in 2017. Only active projects with an earnings model could submit applications. 327 grant applications were received but only 67 of them passed the initial screening. The total prize pool was 2.5 million rubles.[88]
VK Cup[edit]
The first VK Cup, a programming championship for young programmers aged 13–23, was held on 16 July 2012 in Saint Petersburg, Russia.[89]
VK and Codeforces co-organized the second VK Cup programming championship, which took place from 24 to 27 July 2015. The winners received a total of 1,048,576 or 220 rubles (an amount related to round binary numbers).[90]
The third VK Cup took place from 1 to 4 July 2016 and had a prize pool of 2.5 million rubles.[91]
VK and Codeforces co-organized the fourth VK Cup which took place from 8 to 9 July 2017. Teams from 52 countries applied to take part in the competition. The prize pool for the competition was 2.5 million rubles.[92]
VK Music Awards[edit]
The first VK Music Awards ceremony took place on 25 December 2017. The VK Music Awards were produced by Timur Bekmambetov and the Bazelevs Company with Pavel Volya hosting the event.[93] The awards ceremony was held in the form of an online live stream.[94] Any VK user could watch the broadcast live. After the ceremony, a private concert was held in the Vegas City Hall in Moscow. Tickets to the event could be won through a contest held in the VK Music community.[93] VK Music Awards winners were determined by the number of plays an artist's song got on VK and the BOOM app. The names of the 30 award winners were published on the official VK Music Awards community page and on the BOOM app website. “Rosé Wine” (Allj and Feduk), “Lambada” (T-Fest and Scriptonite), and “My Half” (MiyaGi and Endspiel) topped the list of most listened to songs. The official pages of all award winners have been marked with a special symbol.[95]
VK Fest[edit]
Since 2015, VK has held a yearly 2-day open-air music and entertainment festival. This festival traditionally takes place on a weekend in July at the 300th Anniversary Park (Russian: Парк имени 300-летия Санкт-Петербурга) in St. Petersburg, Russia. According to data from the organizer, 70 thousand people attended the festival in 2016, with the number rising to 85 thousand attendees in 2017. In 2017, around 40 artists and groups performed on 3 stages, including Little Big, The Hatters, and others. Bloggers and other famous individuals, such as Dmitry Grishin, Timur Bekmambetov, and Mikhail Piotrovsky (speakers at the 2017 festival), are also an important part of the festival. More than 1.5 million people watched the festival's official live stream.[96]
