Russian website vKontakte has begun removing copyrighted music following requests from rightholders - a significant move following several lawsuits against the company for enabling piracy on its platform.

vKontakte is Russia’s most popular online entertainment platform. It has over 110 million registered users, over 33 million users per day and is one of the top 50 most visited sites in the world, attracting more traffic than BBC Online or CNN.com.

In November, the IFPI welcomed a final court ruling deciding ...