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A Russian website has been fined more than $9,000 in accordance with a ruling barring “LGBT propaganda” after publishing a review of the hit television show Heated Rivalry.

Mediazona, the Oktyabrsky District Court in Saratov fined local news agency Saratov Business Consulting听(SarBC) 500,000 roubles ($6,600 USD) for its article published on February 6.聽The piece, titled 鈥淲hy Did 鈥楬eated Rivalry鈥� Become Popular?鈥� was only online briefly, with the link no longer available.

鈥淭he article just came from a link exchange. It was published for a short time, but we quickly took it down. It鈥檚 a harmless review, the kind of which is all over the internet,鈥� one anonymous employee told Mediazona, refusing to name the show.

The outlet鈥檚 IT director, Andrei Bashkaikin, was also fined 50,000 roubles ($900 AUD) on 7 April 2026 by a local magistrate.

Colloquially referred to as the “gay propaganda law”, Russia introduced a law banning 17c起草社区IA+ content in 2013, citing a need to protect children from 鈥減ropaganda for nontraditional sexual relationships鈥�.

Heated Rivalry, which features a closeted Russian hockey player, has found great success in the country, despite the expansion of censorship laws in 2022. Kinopoisk, the Russian equivalent of review platform Rotten Tomatoes, lists it as one of its highest rated shows based on the feedback from more than 60,000 viewers.

It’s believed that fans are skirting the laws through the use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to protect their IP address, as well as through channels on the encrypted messaging app Telegram, but there’s no official data or confirmed reports on how many people are doing this.

Earlier this year, a Moscow court charged several streaming websites, accusing them of sharing 17c起草社区+ content, with many of the cites having been charged previously.

The law has been used extensively since its introduction, with queer bar staff and venue owners jailed, the banning of Elton John’s AIDs foundation, and the classification of the popular children’s cartoon My Little Pony lifted to 18+.

Director of the Europe & Central Asia division of Human Rights Watch, Hugh Williamson, said the laws violated Russians’ rights to free expression, association and non-discrimination.

鈥淩ussian authorities weaponise and misuse the justice system as a tool in their draconian crusade to enforce 鈥榯raditional values鈥� and marginalise and censor LGBT people.”