How to remove pirated content from Yandex, VK, Rutube and Russian websites

To remove pirated content from Russian platforms, the rights holder, an exclusive licensee or someone they authorise reports each copy where it is posted: on VK through the form at vk.ru/dmca, which needs a VK account, or abuse@vk.com; on VK Video through its form or dmca@vkvideo.ru; and on Rutube through its rights-holder form or claims@rutube.ru. For any other website, Article 15.7 of Russia's information law lets you send the owner a notice, and the owner must remove the work within 24 hours or reply with evidence that it is posted lawfully. Yandex's copyright form covers yandex.com only; its Russian results drop links after the page itself is removed. Each platform decides on each notice, and blocking a site in Russia needs a court act and Roskomnadzor's procedure, through independent counsel.

Before you report: what to collect

• A link for every copy. VK wants live links to each page and, for audio and video, the URL of its search results for the work plus one user's page whose copy serves as the reference for finding its copies; VK Video wants the URL of each channel carrying the video.^1,2
• A link to your lawful copy. Rutube's form, Yandex's memorandum form and Yandex's yandex.com notice ask for the URL of a lawful or authorised copy (yandex.com also accepts a note that the work isn't online).^3,4,5
• Proof of rights. Rutube asks for copies of title documents, such as a licence agreement or a film's distribution certificate; VK lets you attach documents and links to official sources.^1,6
• Authority for an agent. Article 15.7, VK, VK Video and Rutube require a copy of the document confirming an agent's authority.^1,2,6,7
• Company details. Article 15.7 asks a company for its name, location, address and contact details, and an individual for passport details. Rutube's form also asks for a company's OGRN and INN (Russian registration and taxpayer numbers) and doesn't say what a foreign company should give instead.^3,7
• A Russian version. VK Video's, OK's and Rutube's rules and forms are in Russian, OK's rules say the Russian version prevails, and Roskomnadzor's notices under the court route go out in Russian and English.^2,6,8,9 Prepare your description of the work and your statements in Russian.
• A tracking sheet. Capture each page before you file, and record each route, statement number and outcome: VK and Rutube treat a second complaint about an item by another channel as abuse unless it quotes the first one's number.^1,6

Platform by platform: where to report and what happens next

VK (vk.com and vk.ru)

VK LLC says it acts as an information intermediary for users' content and, under Article 1253.1 of the Civil Code and Article 15.7 of the information law, takes measures on rights holders' statements. It recommends contacting the uploader first.¹

• Who and where. Any holder of copyright or related rights, through the form at vk.ru/dmca from a registered VK account (the page asks you to sign in), or by notice to VK LLC's legal address (125167, Moscow, Leningradsky Prospekt 39, building 79) or abuse@vk.com. It doesn't consider anonymous statements.^1,10
• What to include. Your details, the content, the page URLs, statements that you hold the rights and didn't permit the posting, and an agent's authority; attachments up to 200 MB each.¹
• What happens next. VK may ask you to correct the statement, with 24 hours to reply. If the statement complies and shows no sign of abuse, VK removes the content "в установленный законодательством срок" ("within the period set by law"), unless it has evidence that the posting is lawful, which it must send you. The uploader can object through VK's support, and VK may pass your details to them.¹

VK Video (vkvideo.ru)

VK Video is run by Edinoe Video LLC, at the same legal address, under its own rules of 28 May 2025. The rights holder, or a person it authorises, including an exclusive licensee, files through vkvideo.ru/dmca or by notice to the legal address or dmca@vkvideo.ru, with the URL of each channel and title documents from anyone other than the rights holder. VK Video may ask once for clarification, with 24 hours to reply, and removes the video within the period set by Russian law; it warns that a false accusation may make the applicant liable under Russian law.² On 17 October 2026, the form asked us to sign in or register.¹¹

OK (ok.ru)

OK's published complaint rules, issued by VK LLC as its administration, cover information distributed in breach of the law, citing in particular Article 10.6 of the information law, and don't mention copyright.⁸ The 2018 memorandum, signed by Mail.Ru LLC for itself and for OK's and VK's owners, asks each service to publish a form for rights holders outside it,¹² but we found none for OK on 18 October 2026: ask OK where it takes copyright notices.

Rutube

Rutube's operator, Ruform LLC, also cites Article 1253.1 and Article 15.7 in its Regulations.⁶

• Who and where. Its form at rutube.ru/forms/form/2/ is for rights holders outside the 2018 memorandum that hold exclusive rights or exclusive licences in audiovisual works, and their agents; memorandum members go to the memorandum's register holder instead. You can also write to the legal address or claims@rutube.ru.^3,6 The form showed us its fields and send button without signing in; we didn't send it.³
• What to include. Company details, including the OGRN; the work; the URLs of a lawful copy and of each infringing page; a statement that you gave no permission; title documents; and an agent's power of attorney. The form asks you to accept that a false accusation may have negative legal consequences for you and to compensate Rutube's losses, direct and indirect.^3,6
• What happens next. If the statement is complete, shows no abuse and its facts are properly confirmed, Rutube removes the content at that URL within 24 hours and keeps the link out of its own site search. When in reasonable doubt, it may reject a statement or suspend an applicant's statements until documents are provided, and an unsettled dispute over rights may go to court after 14 days. Your statement may go to the uploader and to anyone who disputes it.^3,6

Yandex: yandex.com and Russian search results

• yandex.com. Yandex's Copyright Notice Policy applies only to services on yandex.com and its sub-domains. Use its online form, or email copyright-complaint@support.yandex.com without attachments, giving the work, the authorised copy's URL, each infringing URL, a good-faith statement and a statement of accuracy and authority "under penalty of perjury". Yandex may disclose notices to the alleged infringer and the public.⁵
• Russian results. Yandex's Russian help says a search engine can't remove content from other people's pages and asks you to contact the site's administrators or host; once the content is removed or blocked, links to it drop out of the results automatically after a while.¹³
• Films and series. Holders of exclusive rights or licences in audiovisual works can use Yandex's form to exclude links "по «Меморандуму»" ("under the memorandum"), with the work, a lawful copy's URL, the infringing URL and the site's contacts. Yandex says a court decision finding unlawful use on the sites you list may serve as evidence.^4,13,14
• The register. The memorandum Yandex signed in 2018 created a register of links to potentially infringing pages, kept updated by rights holders; Yandex reports removing 497,519,372 links at their request since the signing.¹⁵ Under the 2018 text that Rutube publishes, the register takes statements from the memorandum's rights-holder parties, their associations' members, companies they control and people they authorise, for audiovisual works and live broadcasts, and signatories remove registered links from search results in Russia within six hours.¹²

Any website: a notice under Article 15.7

Article 15.7 of Federal Law No. 149-FZ ("On Information, Information Technologies and the Protection of Information") lets the rights holder, an exclusive licensee or a person authorised under Russian law send a website's owner a notice, in writing or electronically. The owner may ask once, within 24 hours, for clarification, which you then have 24 hours to give, and must remove the work within 24 hours of the notice or the clarified details, unless it has evidence that the posting is lawful and sends it to you.⁷ If the site names no owner, report it to its host, as our OTT and audio guide explains.

Telegram

Telegram takes copyright complaints about public channels, bots and other public content at dmca@telegram.org, only from the copyright owner or an authorised agent.¹⁶ Our Telegram guide covers its routes in detail.

Where to report pirated content on Russian platforms (checked 18 October 2026):

What every notice needs

Article 15.7 lists what a notice must contain, and VK's and VK Video's rules repeat it.^1,2,7 Use it as the core of every Russian notice:

1. The applicant (сведения о правообладателе или лице, уполномоченном правообладателем, "details of the rights holder or its authorised person"): a company's name, location, address and contacts; an individual's full name, passport details and contacts.
2. The work (информацию об объекте авторских и (или) смежных прав, "information about the object of copyright or related rights").
3. Where it is (доменное имя и (или) сетевой адрес сайта, "the site's domain name or network address"); on a platform, each page's URL.
4. Your rights (указание на наличие у правообладателя прав, "a statement that the rights holder holds the rights").
5. No permission (указание на отсутствие разрешения правообладателя, "a statement that the rights holder gave no permission").
6. Consent to processing personal data, from an individual applicant.

An agent attaches a copy of its authority.⁷ Add what each platform asks on top, such as a lawful copy's URL for Rutube and Yandex.^3,4

Be accurate. VK, VK Video and Rutube treat repeated statements with knowingly false information, false documents and filing by automated mailings or robots as abuse; VK Video and Rutube warn that a false accusation may make the applicant liable under Russian law; and Yandex warns that false claims may lead to legal liability and asks you to check exceptions such as fair use before filing.^1,2,5,6 Leave out licensed copies and your own promotional clips.

Russian law and the court route, through independent counsel

This summarises the statutes as ConsultantPlus published them on 18 October 2026 (149-FZ as amended to 26 June 2026, the Civil Procedure Code to 4 August 2026, the Civil Code's Part Four to 23 July 2025); ConsultantPlus also flags amendments not yet in force. It isn't advice: court steps in Russia are for independent counsel there.

Why platforms act. Under Article 1253.1 of the Civil Code, which VK and Rutube cite, a platform isn't liable for users' material if it didn't know, and shouldn't have known, that the use was unlawful and, on a rights holder's written statement giving the page or network address, took necessary and sufficient measures in time; it can still be required to remove the material.¹⁷

Preliminary measures at the Moscow City Court

Before suing, an organisation or individual can apply in writing to the Moscow City Court for preliminary measures to protect copyright or related rights online; photographs, and works made by similar processes, are excluded. An electronic application needs an enhanced qualified electronic signature, and the applicant must file documents showing that the works are used online and that it holds rights in them. The court's ruling sets no more than 15 days to file the claim in the same court. If you don't, the court cancels the measures and sends that ruling to Roskomnadzor, and anyone harmed by the measures can claim damages from you, as they can if the claim is finally dismissed.^18,19 Rutube's Regulations treat going to court against Rutube without first using its procedure as an abuse.⁶

Roskomnadzor's blocking steps (Article 15.2)

Roskomnadzor supervises communications, information technology and mass media.²⁰ On the basis of a court act in force, a rights holder (photographs excluded) can apply to it, on its approved form, to restrict access to sites or apps that distribute its works without permission. Then:⁹

1. Within three working days, Roskomnadzor identifies the host and sends it an electronic notice in Russian and English naming the work, the rights holder, the site and the page URLs.
2. Within one working day, the host must tell the site's owner, which has one working day to remove the work or restrict access to it.
3. If the owner refuses or does nothing, the host must restrict access within three working days of Roskomnadzor's notice.
4. Failing that, internet access providers must restrict access to the information, or to the whole site, within a day.

Roskomnadzor's website didn't open from India on 18 October 2026, so we couldn't read its form; counsel in Russia can obtain it.

Repeat infringers and mirrors

When the Moscow City Court hears a new claim from a plaintiff that has already won an online copyright case there, it also decides on lasting restriction of access (постоянное ограничение доступа) to a site that repeatedly and unlawfully posted works.¹⁹ Within a day of receiving that decision in force, Roskomnadzor requires internet access providers to block the site and search engines to stop showing it, each within a day, and the law says the block may not be lifted.²¹ A confusingly similar "копия заблокированного сайта" ("copy of a blocked site") is prohibited: on a report from a federal body or a rights holder, Roskomnadzor decides within a day whether it is a copy, and then has internet access providers block it and search engines stop showing it, each within a day.²²

Remedies and foreign works. Russia protects foreign authors' works published abroad under its international treaties, and a rights holder can claim compensation instead of damages, such as 10,000 to 10 million roubles.^23,24 Which route fits depends on where the site and host are, your evidence and your rights: decide with independent counsel.

When reports aren't enough

The site ignores your notice. Keep the notice, proof of sending and your captures: preliminary measures need documents showing your works' use online.¹⁸ Meanwhile, report the site to its host and ask search engines to de-list it.

Mirrors keep appearing. Once a site is blocked for repeat infringement, rights holders can report each copy to Roskomnadzor.²² Record what links each mirror to the original: name, design and content.

The same works return on VK or Rutube. VK Video and Rutube say they have no legal duty to monitor uploads, so each new copy needs a new statement; Rutube's fingerprinting trial works only from samples rights holders supply under a licence agreement.^2,6

The uploader objects. VK and VK Video let uploaders object with documents proving their rights, and Rutube says an unsettled rights dispute may go to court after 14 days.^1,2,6 Decide with independent counsel whether to go to court.

Doing this at scale

For one film or course, this is manageable by hand. For an OTT service, an audio or micro-drama app, a publisher, an ed-tech company or a game publisher whose titles circulate in Russian-speaking communities, it becomes continuous work.

• One statement per work and platform, listing every URL; Rutube and VK Video take several pages or channels in one statement.^2,6
• File through each platform's own channel, without automation. VK, VK Video, Rutube and OK count automated mailings or robots as abuse.^1,2,6,8
• Keep authority documents ready in Russian for every title.
• Close the loop. Re-check each URL, record the outcome, and search again under new titles, channels and domains.

Bytescare runs this cycle for rights holders: monitoring VK, Rutube, Yandex's search results and the other sites in your plan for pirated copies of your titles on your plan's scan cycle, and filing the notices you approve with each platform, site owner, host or search engine. Each platform decides on removal, and court routes in Russia go through independent counsel. Our anti-piracy service page explains how we work. This guide is general information, not legal advice. Bytescare is not a law firm; for a specific dispute, consult independent counsel.

FAQs

Further reading

• How to remove pirated courses, videos and books from Telegram
• How to remove pirated episodes of OTT shows, audio series and micro-dramas
• How game publishers take down private servers, cheat sellers and pirated APKs

Sources

1. Правила рассмотрения заявлений, связанных с размещением пользователями контента на сайте ВКонтакте (VK's rules for considering statements about users' content; sections 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5) · VK (ООО «ВК», VK LLC) · accessed 2026-10-18
2. Правила рассмотрения заявлений правообладателей, связанных с размещением пользователями контента на платформе VK Видео (VK Video's rules for rights holders' statements, revision of 28 May 2025) · VK Видео (ООО «Единое Видео», Edinoe Video LLC) · accessed 2026-10-18
3. Форма для подачи заявлений (Rutube's statement form for rights holders that are not parties to the memorandum; viewed, not sent) · RUTUBE (ООО «Руформ», Ruform LLC) · accessed 2026-10-18
4. Заявление на исключение из результатов поиска ссылок на информацию (по «Меморандуму») (Yandex Forms: statement to exclude links from search results under the memorandum; viewed, not sent) · Яндекс Формы (Yandex Forms) · accessed 2026-10-18
5. Copyright Notice Policy (Notice of Copyright Infringement; Please Read Carefully Before Filling; Other Ways to Submit Notices of Copyright Infringement) · Yandex · accessed 2026-10-18
6. Регламент рассмотрения заявлений правообладателей (и/или уполномоченное правообладателем лицо), связанных с размещением пользователями контента на сайте rutube.ru (Rutube's Regulations for rights holders' statements) · RUTUBE (ООО «Руформ», Ruform LLC) · accessed 2026-10-18
7. Федеральный закон от 27.07.2006 N 149-ФЗ «Об информации, информационных технологиях и о защите информации», статья 15.7 (Federal Law No. 149-FZ on Information, Information Technologies and the Protection of Information, Article 15.7: out-of-court measures on a rights holder's statement; version of 26 June 2026) · КонсультантПлюс (ConsultantPlus legal database) · accessed 2026-10-18
8. Правила рассмотрения обращений, связанных с распространением информации с нарушением закона в Социальной сети «Одноклассники» (OK's rules for complaints about information distributed in breach of the law; the text the page loads from st.okcdn.ru) · Одноклассники (OK), administered by ООО «ВК» (VK LLC) · accessed 2026-10-18
9. Federal Law No. 149-FZ, статья 15.2 (Article 15.2: restricting access to information distributed in breach of copyright and related rights; version of 26 June 2026) · КонсультантПлюс (ConsultantPlus legal database) · accessed 2026-10-18
10. Жалоба на аудио и видеозаписи (VK's complaint page for audio and video, which asks visitors to sign in or register) · VK (ООО «ВК», VK LLC) · accessed 2026-10-18
11. VK Видео: complaint page for rights holders (asked visitors to sign in or register on 17 October 2026; showed a bot check on 18 October) · VK Видео (ООО «Единое Видео», Edinoe Video LLC) · accessed 2026-10-17
12. Меморандум о сотрудничестве в сфере охраны исключительных прав в эпоху развития цифровых технологий, 1 ноября 2018 (Memorandum of cooperation on protecting exclusive rights in the digital age, 1 November 2018: the 2018 text as Rutube publishes it) · RUTUBE (ООО «Руформ», Ruform LLC) · accessed 2026-10-18
13. Сайт в поиске содержит контент, нарушающий мои авторские права (Yandex Help: a site in search results contains content that infringes my copyright) · Яндекс (Yandex) · accessed 2026-10-18
14. Форма для заявлений от правообладателей (Yandex Help: the form for rights holders' statements) · Яндекс (Yandex) · accessed 2026-10-18
15. Transparency Report (Protecting the interests of copyright holders) · Yandex · accessed 2026-10-18
16. Telegram FAQ ("A bot or channel is infringing on my copyright. What do I do?") · Telegram · accessed 2026-10-18
17. Гражданский кодекс РФ (часть четвертая), статья 1253.1 (Civil Code, Part Four, Article 1253.1: liability of information intermediaries; version of 23 July 2025) · КонсультантПлюс (ConsultantPlus legal database) · accessed 2026-10-18
18. Гражданский процессуальный кодекс РФ, статья 144.1 (Civil Procedure Code, Article 144.1: preliminary interim measures to protect copyright and related rights online; version of 4 August 2026) · КонсультантПлюс (ConsultantPlus legal database) · accessed 2026-10-18
19. Гражданский процессуальный кодекс РФ, статья 26, часть 3 (Civil Procedure Code, Article 26(3): cases heard at first instance by the Moscow City Court; version of 4 August 2026) · КонсультантПлюс (ConsultantPlus legal database) · accessed 2026-10-18
20. Постановление Правительства РФ от 16.03.2009 N 228, Положение о Федеральной службе по надзору в сфере связи, информационных технологий и массовых коммуникаций, раздел I (Government Decree No. 228: Regulation on Roskomnadzor, section I; version of 21 April 2026) · КонсультантПлюс (ConsultantPlus legal database) · accessed 2026-10-18
21. Federal Law No. 149-FZ, статья 15.6 (Article 15.6: restricting access to sites that repeatedly and unlawfully posted copyright works; version of 26 June 2026) · КонсультантПлюс (ConsultantPlus legal database) · accessed 2026-10-18
22. Federal Law No. 149-FZ, статья 15.6-1 (Article 15.6-1: restricting access to copies of blocked sites; version of 26 June 2026) · КонсультантПлюс (ConsultantPlus legal database) · accessed 2026-10-18
23. Гражданский кодекс РФ (часть четвертая), статья 1256 (Civil Code, Part Four, Article 1256: the exclusive right in works in Russia; version of 23 July 2025) · КонсультантПлюс (ConsultantPlus legal database) · accessed 2026-10-18
24. Гражданский кодекс РФ (часть четвертая), статья 1301 (Civil Code, Part Four, Article 1301: liability for infringing the exclusive right in a work; version of 23 July 2025) · КонсультантПлюс (ConsultantPlus legal database) · accessed 2026-10-18