MOSCOW: A Russian blogger has been convicted for inciting religious hatred for playing “Pokemon Go” in a church and given a suspended sentence.
Ruslan Sokolovsky posted a video on his blog last year showing him playing the smartphone game in a church built on the supposed spot where the last Russian tsar and his family were killed. He has been in detention since October.
Judge Yekaterina Shoponyak on Thursday found Sokolovsky guilty of inciting religious hatred and gave him to a 3 ½-year suspended sentence. It is the same offense that sent two women from the Pussy Riot punk collective to prison for two years in 2012.
She earlier said Sokolovsky’s behavior and his anti-religious videos manifested his “disrespect for society” and that Sokolovsky “intended to offend religious sentiments.”
Russian blogger convicted for playing ‘Pokemon Go’ in church
Russian blogger convicted for playing ‘Pokemon Go’ in church
Musk’s X to open source new algorithm in seven days
Elon Musk said on Saturday that social media platform X will open its new algorithm, including all code for organic and advertising post recommendations, to the public in seven days.
“This will be repeated every 4 weeks, with comprehensive developer notes, to help you understand what changed,” he said in his X post.
Earlier this week, the European Commission decided to extend a retention order sent to X last year, which related to algorithms and dissemination of illegal content, prolonging it to the end of 2026, spokesperson Thomas Regnier told reporters on Thursday.
In July 2025, Paris prosecutors investigated the social media platform for suspected algorithmic bias and fraudulent data extraction, which Musk’s X called a “politically-motivated criminal investigation” that threatens its users’ free speech.
