Yandex.Taxi, Yandex.Eats, and Other Services Added to Russian Surveillance Registry

Recently, the ORI (Organizers of Information Dissemination) registry was updated, and RosKomSvoboda discovered that several of the most popular services from Yandex have been added. These services are primarily related to everyday needs, including:

• Yandex.Eats – for placing orders to prepare and/or purchase goods, as well as providing delivery services offered by the service’s partners;
• The electric scooter rental service provided by LLC “Yandex.Micromobility”;
• Yandex Go (Yandex.Taxi) – for ordering passenger and luggage transportation by taxi and/or other transportation services, as well as courier delivery services provided by the service’s partners;
• Yandex.Lavka – for placing orders to purchase goods and providing delivery services offered by the service’s partners.

The first time Yandex services were added to the ORI registry was in 2014, when Yandex.Mail, Yandex.Disk, and Yandex.MoyKrug were included. In 2019, Yandex.Zen was added. In March 2020, Yandex.Real Estate, Auto.ru, Yandex.Market, and Beru.ru were also designated as organizers of information dissemination.

It’s important to note that Federal Law No. 97-FZ requires organizers of information dissemination to collect, store, and provide information about user activities on their platforms to authorized government agencies. After the adoption of Law 374-FZ (the “Yarovaya package”), these companies are also required to provide law enforcement with the full content of user messages, calls, and any other actions or interactions.

In the spring of 2020, it became known that Yandex.Taxi had provided user data to law enforcement even before being officially added to the ORI registry. Media outlets reported that authorities obtained the ride history of journalist Ivan Golunov, who was falsely accused of manufacturing, storing, and distributing drugs. Due to widespread public outcry, the case against Golunov was dropped, and the police officers involved were investigated. As journalists looked into the circumstances of Golunov’s surveillance and detention, numerous alarming facts emerged, including the transfer of his data by the taxi service to third parties. Later, Yandex issued an official statement on the situation, citing the need to comply with Russian law.

In addition to Yandex services, the regional media outlet “Oryol Times” was also added to the ORI registry. At the same time, several other resources were removed from the registry, including the domain name registrar Reg.ru.