In Russia, a draft law will be developed, according to which digital platforms will be required to independently moderate their content and remove everything that violates the law. In case of violation, heavy fines will be provided. This was announced by the head of the Duma Committee on Information Policy, Information Technology and Communications Alexander Khinshtein. He recalled that earlier similar measures were taken in relation to social networks.
According to him, work on the document is being carried out jointly with Roskomnadzor. “We will try to introduce the bill in the spring session,” – wrote Khinshtein on Thursday, May 11, in his Telegram channel. As an example, the deputy cited the incident with Yandex Music, which eventually removed the Ukrainian track posted on the eve of Victory Day.
However, the problem has not been resolved, Khinshtein emphasized. There are many extremist songs on this platform, which are regularly reported by citizens. The deputy sends information about this to Roskomnadzor. Every week, the service manually finds several dozen such songs and requires the platform to block them, Khinshtein said. But it doesn’t have to be that way, he’s sure. “It is necessary that the platform independently moderate its content,” the deputy summed up.
On February 1, 2021, a law came into force in Russia, according to which the owners, providers of social networks and other Internet sites are obliged to identify and block prohibited content themselves. Such information includes, in particular, child pornography, calls to minors to commit illegal acts, and data on how drugs are manufactured.
