Codes of conduct for algorithmic news recommendation: The Yandex.News controversy in Russia

In Russia, since 2011, the Yandex.News aggregator (Yandex.Novosti) — Russian equivalent to Google News has been suspected of political bias in context protests against electoral fraud followed by Ukrainian crisis. This article first outlines issues associated with automated news recommendation systems, their role as “algorithmic gatekeepers” and questions they raise terms diversity possible manipulation. It then analyses controversies which have developed around Yandex.News, particularly authorities decided regulate way it operates through a law adopted 2016. Finally, provides an audit aggregation 2020, quantitative analysis its database sources Top 5 results presented on Yandex homepage. shows discrepancy between online mediasphere narrowness media sample. research contributes sociology digital platforms study “governance algorithms”, showing how is key asset government’s overall disciplining country’s public sphere, ongoing effort assert “digital sovereignty”.