Netherlands-based video game developer MY.GAMES has said that it will sell Boosty, a Russian app that has been accused of helping circumvent sanctions by allowing users to receive donations on behalf of the Russian military, the company announced on Monday.
MY.GAMES, which was previously part of Russian tech giant VK, was sold to Alexander Chachava for €600 million in an effort to avoid sanctions following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
According to Dutch public broadcaster NOS, Russian military bloggers such as Kirill Fyodorov, who has over 500,000 subscribers on Telegram, have used Boosty to crowdsource funds for the Russian military. MY.GAMES told Novaya Gazeta Europe that the report had contained “false, misleading and unproven statements” and that it was considering legal action against the outlet.
A representative of CEBC, the Netherlands-based company that operates Boosty, told Novaya Gazeta Europe that “Fundraising for any near-militaristic purposes is forbidden on the platform,” adding that pro-war accounts had been blocked after the company received complaints about them from users.
Boosty is now facing problems in Russia as a result of its efforts to clamp down on pro-war bloggers’ behaviour on the platform, Russian Telegram news channel Mash reported, adding that the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Investigative Committee of Russia were seeking to ban Boosty in Russia after several popular pro-war bloggers were blocked by the platform.
