Russian social media CEO quits, flees country
Source: AP-Excite
By LAURA MILLS
MOSCOW (AP) - The founder of Russia's leading social media network - a wunderkind often described as Russia's Mark Zuckerberg - has left his post as CEO and fled the country as cronies of President Vladimir Putin have made steady inroads into the company's ownership.
The slow-motion ouster of Pavel Durov from the network known as VKontakte, or "In Contact," is the latest sign that independent media outlets in Russia have become increasingly imperiled.
Although months in the making, the loss of Durov's leadership in VKontakte means that the space for free speech on the Russian web could shrink even further.
Users on VKontakte were even spreading jokes this week that the new nickname for the "In Contact" website should be "In Censorship."
FULL story at link.
Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20140423/DADC1VA01.html
A user of Russia’s leading social network internet site VKontakte, poses holding an iPhone showing the account page of Pavel Durov, the former CEO and founder of VKontakte, in Red Square in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, April 23, 2014. The network’s founder, Pavel Durov, described as Russia’s Mark Zuckerberg (founder of Facebook), left his post as CEO on Tuesday April 22, 2014, and is reported to have left Russia, one week after he posted online what he said were documents from the security services demanding personal details from 39 Ukraine-linked groups on VKontakte.(AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)
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"The slow-motion ouster of Pavel Durov from the network known as VKontakte, or "In Contact," is the latest sign that independent media outlets in Russia have become increasingly imperiled."
Heads up fast Eddie.
