The State Council of Tatarstan has formed a working group to " prepare proposals for improving the regulatory framework for limiting the dissemination of destructive information on the Internet, including in social networks." This was reported to Kommersant by the press service of the parliament. The group was headed by Deputy Speaker Marat Akhmetov (United Russia).
Deputies will shoot at social networks // The State Council of Tatarstan wants to limit "destructive information" on the Internet.
Tatarstan State Council wants to limit "destructive information" on the Internet
- Kommersant Kazan.
Chairman of the State Council Farid Mukhametshin explained to reporters that "our task is to create such a legislative framework so that there is no destructive and dangerous content on the web."
"I am sure that social networks and other platforms on the Internet will learn to block such content, and it is better not to allow such content to be posted at all."
In addition, according to him, "we are concerned about the promotion of alcohol, vapes, snus, drugs in social networks and the involvement of children in their sale, as well as the promotion of obscenities, anti-family propaganda, devaluing the role of parents, sadism propaganda, depressive-suicidal content, blackmail and extortion, violence and extremism, anti-religious content, Columbine communities."
As Kommersant notes, the bill can be officially submitted to the State Council, after which it will be sent to the State Duma.
The reason for the development of such an initiative was the tragedy in Kazan gymnasium No. 175.
In April, even before the emergency at the school, the issue of "information security of children on the Internet"was already raised in the Parliament of Tatarstan. Then the participants of the round table, which was held by Deputy Speaker Tatyana Larionova, suggested limiting the time spent by children in social networks, up to the recommendation to buy push-button phones for them. At the same time, Children's Ombudsman of Tatarstan Irina Volynets stated the need to introduce an age limit for registering accounts in social networks, although not all deputies supported her on this issue.
Now the authorities of the republic are concerned about the "glorification" of the "Kazan shooter" in social networks. Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov noted that the authors of such publications "not only do not condemn a cruel crime, but encourage them to commit such actions." "Therefore, any attempts to romanticize a criminal should be under the special attention of law enforcement officers," he urged. Yesterday, Roskomnadzor reported that more than 300 materials "containing information of a destructive nature related to the tragedy in Kazan"were deleted.
Lawyer Stanislav Seleznev, senior partner of the Network Freedoms project, believes that "the fight against so-called hate speech or calls to violence can be acceptable and even useful for society if the authorities comply with the standards developed, for example, in the practice of the European Court of Justice":
"The question is what is considered prohibited content and by what criteria to determine it. As a result, people who write online may find themselves harassed just because they discuss the issue."
He notes that in Russia there are already cases when "publicistic discussion" of a particular problem was equated with propaganda. For example, journalist Svetlana Prokopyeva was punished under the article justifying terrorism, Seleznev cites as an example.
The lawyer believes that " the right to freedom of expression is in danger." "As a result, a person with atheistic views may not be able to express their opinion, since "anti-religious content" may become illegal. Or it will be forbidden to argue that it is better to raise a child alone than with an abusive father, " warns Seleznev.
"If the point of this initiative is to define a new category of prohibited content, then the experts of the executive authorities can adapt anything to such wording. Of course, this will lead to even greater censorship in social networks and narrowing the space of freedom of speech on the Russian Internet, " adds Sargis Darbinyan, head of RosKomSvoboda's legal practice and partner at the Center for Digital Rights.
At the same time, he recalls that "there are already many reasons for restricting access to sites":
"In particular, at the end of the year, the law on self-censorship of social networks was adopted. There is also criminal liability for justifying terrorism and distributing extremist materials. There are more than enough legal tools."
At the same time, according to Darbinyan, in practice, "not villains are often brought to justice, but ordinary citizens who can make a careless comment or post."
"No one just looked in the direction of the Kazan shooter. All the initiatives that call for deanonizing everyone on the Internet will not help in any way to deal with such cases when a person goes crazy, takes a gun and, waving it, moves freely around the city," the lawyer points out. According to him, " there is no need to fight the Internet again and create new restrictions that will worsen the lives of users."
The thoughts of the Tatarstan parliamentarians coincide with the ideas voiced by their colleagues from the State Duma of the Russian Federation, for whom the tragedy in the Kazan gymnasium became a reason for increasing censorship on the Web. For example, the speaker of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin said about the need to ban anonymity on the Internet, and is also preparing to voice in PACE an initiative to increase pressure on IT companies, the behavior of which the Russian authorities are very dissatisfied.
Deputies will shoot at social networks // The State Council of Tatarstan wants to limit "destructive information" on the Internet.
Tatarstan State Council wants to limit "destructive information" on the Internet
- Kommersant Kazan.
Chairman of the State Council Farid Mukhametshin explained to reporters that "our task is to create such a legislative framework so that there is no destructive and dangerous content on the web."
"I am sure that social networks and other platforms on the Internet will learn to block such content, and it is better not to allow such content to be posted at all."
In addition, according to him, "we are concerned about the promotion of alcohol, vapes, snus, drugs in social networks and the involvement of children in their sale, as well as the promotion of obscenities, anti-family propaganda, devaluing the role of parents, sadism propaganda, depressive-suicidal content, blackmail and extortion, violence and extremism, anti-religious content, Columbine communities."
As Kommersant notes, the bill can be officially submitted to the State Council, after which it will be sent to the State Duma.
The reason for the development of such an initiative was the tragedy in Kazan gymnasium No. 175.
In April, even before the emergency at the school, the issue of "information security of children on the Internet"was already raised in the Parliament of Tatarstan. Then the participants of the round table, which was held by Deputy Speaker Tatyana Larionova, suggested limiting the time spent by children in social networks, up to the recommendation to buy push-button phones for them. At the same time, Children's Ombudsman of Tatarstan Irina Volynets stated the need to introduce an age limit for registering accounts in social networks, although not all deputies supported her on this issue.
Now the authorities of the republic are concerned about the "glorification" of the "Kazan shooter" in social networks. Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov noted that the authors of such publications "not only do not condemn a cruel crime, but encourage them to commit such actions." "Therefore, any attempts to romanticize a criminal should be under the special attention of law enforcement officers," he urged. Yesterday, Roskomnadzor reported that more than 300 materials "containing information of a destructive nature related to the tragedy in Kazan"were deleted.
Lawyer Stanislav Seleznev, senior partner of the Network Freedoms project, believes that "the fight against so-called hate speech or calls to violence can be acceptable and even useful for society if the authorities comply with the standards developed, for example, in the practice of the European Court of Justice":
"The question is what is considered prohibited content and by what criteria to determine it. As a result, people who write online may find themselves harassed just because they discuss the issue."
He notes that in Russia there are already cases when "publicistic discussion" of a particular problem was equated with propaganda. For example, journalist Svetlana Prokopyeva was punished under the article justifying terrorism, Seleznev cites as an example.
The lawyer believes that " the right to freedom of expression is in danger." "As a result, a person with atheistic views may not be able to express their opinion, since "anti-religious content" may become illegal. Or it will be forbidden to argue that it is better to raise a child alone than with an abusive father, " warns Seleznev.
"If the point of this initiative is to define a new category of prohibited content, then the experts of the executive authorities can adapt anything to such wording. Of course, this will lead to even greater censorship in social networks and narrowing the space of freedom of speech on the Russian Internet, " adds Sargis Darbinyan, head of RosKomSvoboda's legal practice and partner at the Center for Digital Rights.
At the same time, he recalls that "there are already many reasons for restricting access to sites":
"In particular, at the end of the year, the law on self-censorship of social networks was adopted. There is also criminal liability for justifying terrorism and distributing extremist materials. There are more than enough legal tools."
At the same time, according to Darbinyan, in practice, "not villains are often brought to justice, but ordinary citizens who can make a careless comment or post."
"No one just looked in the direction of the Kazan shooter. All the initiatives that call for deanonizing everyone on the Internet will not help in any way to deal with such cases when a person goes crazy, takes a gun and, waving it, moves freely around the city," the lawyer points out. According to him, " there is no need to fight the Internet again and create new restrictions that will worsen the lives of users."
The thoughts of the Tatarstan parliamentarians coincide with the ideas voiced by their colleagues from the State Duma of the Russian Federation, for whom the tragedy in the Kazan gymnasium became a reason for increasing censorship on the Web. For example, the speaker of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin said about the need to ban anonymity on the Internet, and is also preparing to voice in PACE an initiative to increase pressure on IT companies, the behavior of which the Russian authorities are very dissatisfied.
