While the consumption of traditional media is diminishing, Internet use is on the increase in Ukraine, according to “Media Consumption Survey. Ukraine 2016,” a report released last month by Internews Network in partnership with USAID. Covering 2015 and 2016, the report features data from all the Ukrainian regions, except Crimea and the areas under rebellion …
Report: Three Ukrainians in four go online at least once a week Read More
A controversy sparked last week over Google’s decision to change the names of Crimean settlements appearing on Google Maps, in accordance with the Ukrainian authorities’ “decommunization” campaign. In May 2016, the Ukrainian parliament renamed 70 settlements in Crimea, mostly choosing names of Crimean Tatar origin. Thus Krasnogvardeyskoe (‘Red Guard’) became “Yany Kapu” while Sovetskoe switched …
Crimea maps scandals: Google offends Russia, then Ukraine Read More
Last week Oleg Mikheyev, a member of the State Duma (the lower house of the Russian parliament), requested the Prosecutor General to inquire into TripAdvisor, whose website displays Crimea as being a Ukrainian territory. This misrepresentation could be enough to ban the US company from operating in Russia, suggests Mikheyev. “In the present time, all possible …
AliExpress, the B2C subsidiary of Alibaba which last year became the number one online marketplace in Russia, has resumed delivery to Crimea. Just months ago, the Chinese platform had stopped serving the disputed peninsula. It was assumed that Alibaba was complying with western sanctions, which bar companies from working in this peninsula. The news was announced earlier this month …
Global technology players with offices in Ukraine are as disappointed as anyone with the halting pace of Ukraine’s post-revolutionary changes. “Everybody observes that there is a certain, let’s say, decline in the speed of reforms… We see that the reforms that were promised year and a half ago are not taking place as fast as …
IBM Ukraine head unhappy with slow pace of reforms Read More
Two months ago I welcomed a delegation of European investors and tech entrepreneurs for an informal 3-day WEF/YGL/GS Ukraine Discovery Tour in Kyiv. I had met them at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January, and invited them to Ukraine despite skeptical views on the “country in war.” These views weren’t surprising because Russian …
Building a startup nation is a new Ukrainian dream Read More
The United States on Friday announced that U.S. companies can still give users in Crimea access to a range of free online communications services, despite an earlier U.S. ban on providing any services to the region after it was annexed by Russia last year. The decision will allow U.S. Internet companies such as Apple and Google — who previously announced that they were cutting off service to Crimea — …
US social networks, blogs allowed back into Crimea Read More
In 2014 — three years after successful launch on the Russian market — footwear and clothing online retailer Lamoda entered the Ukrainian market. In spite of the political and economic turmoil, the Rocket Internet creature has asserted itself as one of the country’s main e-commerce companies. Its general manager, Poland’s Andrzej Malinowski, unveiled his strategy …
Crimean gamers were locked out of playing popular online multiplayer games World of Warcraft and Diablo III last week, as the game publisher was forced to suspend the accounts in compliance with Western sanctions. Major US Internet and tech companies such as Apple, Google and PayPal have suspended services to Crimean users over the last year. The United States in December barred US-registered companies from investing in Crimea or providing …
US sanctions block Crimeans from World of Warcraft, Diablo III Read More
Belgian game studio LuGus Studios has developed “Battle for Donetsk,” a mobile game that has no winners. The anti-war game was created to raise awareness about the current eastern Ukraine conflict and educate a larger audience on what exactly is happening in the region. The fighting in eastern Ukraine between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian forces continues despite …
“Battle for Donetsk:” Belgian game studio launches war game with anti-war message Read More
The Ministry of Information Policy of Ukraine has just launched I-ARMY.ORG, a site for enrolling people in the “information forces of Ukraine.” In order to join the online army, users must register their email in the system, which will allow them to begin receiving daily tasks in their inbox. At the moment, the site solely functions …
Ukrainian government enrolls volunteers in the “Internet forces of Ukraine” Read More
Ordinary programmers have suffered greatly from the economic sanctions against Russia. Apple and Google have fully suspended accounts belonging to Crimean software developers. Their applications are no longer available for downloading and their earnings are blocked. Many mobile application developers in Crimea are closing their operations in order to move to Russia or Ukraine, says …
Crimean software developers are trying to bypass sanctions Read More
