Yandex is considered the equivalent of Russia with Google, as it has a search engine and an extensive digital advertising business. Its deputy managing director, Tigran Khudaverdyan, resigned this month after the European Union imposed sanctions on him. The Bureau of Investigative Journalism has discovered ads delivered by Yandex that appear alongside misinformation and propaganda generated by more than half a dozen Russian-language news sites. These attracted more than 420 million hits in February, according to SimilarWeb, suggesting that these sites could earn tens of millions of dollars a year from digital advertising. Advertisements ran along with false stories about US bio-arms laboratories in Ukraine, allegations that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was showing signs of drug use, and reports that parroted Russian claims that the “special operation” was going completely according to plan. Others cite Ukraine’s alleged provocations against Russia’s allies in detail or refer to the Russian invasion as an “operation to de-democratize and demilitarize Ukraine.” Advertising revenue will be channeled through a company owned by some of the largest investment companies in the world, most of which are based in the USA. “A lot of cyberbullying and cyberbullying is that it’s quite profitable financially,” said Jane Lytvynenko, a researcher at the Shorenstein Center at Harvard who specializes in misinformation analysis. “And so stopping this revenue stream, I think, is very important.” Some of the sites documented by the Office have direct links to the Russian state. The Bureau found Yandex displaying ads on the state-run RIA news agency’s website and two offshoots of state-run Sputnik. One of the biggest sites, with more than 177 million hits in February, was Lenta.Ru. Lenta is part of Rambler, a media group bought in 2020 by Sberbank, Russia’s largest state-owned bank under US and UK sanctions. The Bureau confirmed that Lenta.Ru was using Yandex video ads until at least March 10. While Yandex is headquartered in Moscow, it is listed on the New York Stock Exchange Nasdaq under a company listed in the Netherlands. The Bureau’s analysis shows that the vast majority of its shares belong to investors based in the West, especially in the USA. These include some of the largest investment companies in the world, asset managers and banks. As of March 16, Yandex’s largest single shareholder was Capital Group, a trillion-dollar asset management fund with a 13% stake in the company. The second and fourth largest shareholders were also huge asset management companies: Invesco and Fidelity. Capital Group said it had a long-standing policy of not commenting on its involvement, but added: “Our hearts go out to the Ukrainian people and all those affected by this war.” Fidelity said it had decided not to buy Russian securities in light of recent events and would consider eliminating its current Russian holdings. Invesco has also been approached for comment. “Investors also need to think about how their money is used, where that money is invested and how they can contribute to the isolation of Russia and Russian companies,” Lytvynenko said. “Especially as they spread propaganda all over the world.” Among the top 10 shareholders, only two are not large Western investment companies: a family trust in the name of Yandex founder Arkady Volozh and a former Yandex executive. More than half are based in the United States. The company’s shareholding structure means that Volozh’s trust controls, when combined with a small number of shares held by other executives and employees, more than 50% of the voting power, but only about 11% of the dividend-paying shares. Yandex share price has fallen by almost half since the invasion of Ukraine. Grubhub has partnered with the company to create food delivery robots, while Uber has announced that it is accelerating pre-existing plans to sever ties. The company itself has not imposed sanctions from the United Kingdom, despite calls from some MPs. Yandex’s stance contrasts with that of many foreign web companies, which have taken steps to justify the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Last week, for example, Google announced that it would ban any site that “exploits, discards or forgives” the war from using its advertising tools to monetize. Hours later, Russian Internet censor Roskomnadzor blocked Google News, accusing it of sharing “unreliable, publicly important information” about the “special military operation.” Yandex and Lenta.Ru have been approached for comment.
