Deputies put forward new initiatives to regulate the blogosphere and information business

The first meeting of the working group on improving legislation in the field of information business and the blogosphere was held in the State Duma on Thursday. In addition to the appearance of a separate OKVED code, deputies and officials pleased the invited industry representatives with new initiatives on standardization, licensing and voluntary-compulsory self-regulation. The bloggers themselves, who warmly thanked the Duma members for the invitation to dialogue, met a number of the ideas expressed without enthusiasm.

Deputies publicly opened the next campaign for the integration of bloggers into the legal space last December. Then, at a round table, parliamentarians discussed with industry representatives the development of the appropriate OKVED code and carefully tested the ground for sowing regulatory initiatives.

The meeting on March 21 began with reservations about the significance of the position of the blogging community and the readiness to take into account any opinion “from below,” where even more market participants, as well as representatives of interested ministries and departments, were invited. “With common efforts we will be able to develop the most effective regulatory measures,” the moderator and initiator of the next meeting, State Duma deputy Yana Lantratova (“A Just Russia – For the Truth”).

The thesis was developed by Vice Speaker Pyotr Tolstoy (“United Russia”), who pointed out that deputies and bloggers are united by a commitment to a single value – trust as the “main capital”, therefore the common task is “to ensure that this trust exists.”

“To achieve this, the industry must become more orderly, but this is not a desire to build someone or prescribe some restrictions!” – the United Russia member assured, emphasizing that the general rules of the game are “both peace of mind and protection from arbitrary interpretation of the rules.”

Both officials and market representatives have already proposed the required rules of the game to the deputies, Ms. Lantratova announced: “I say right away, I mean what was sent to us: this is not our position, these are proposals that we will discuss.” In addition to the OKVED code and support measures for “socially responsible” industry workers, the initiatives included: mandatory licensing of educational services, a ban on using the names of educational institutions in the names of unlicensed companies (“school”, “academy”, “university”, etc.), and also the introduction of a disclaimer warning that certain services (in particular, educational or esoteric) do not guarantee results.

However, the most lively response in the hall was caused by “unifying” initiatives – in particular, the mandatory notification of the state about the creation of a blog and the start of corresponding activities, the addition of the Code of Administrative Offenses and the Criminal Code with articles punishing “unaccredited activities in the provision of information and consulting services,” as well as the creation and approval of a specialized self-regulatory organization (SRO). She, in turn, will have to develop a “code of fair practices and rules for confirming qualifications for the blogging community,” and also, with the assistance of Roskomnadzor, maintain a register of individuals and organizations “unfairly carrying out blogging activities.”

True, both deputies and law enforcement officers confidently rejected punitive initiatives. Representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Andrey Ismakaev saidthat the department supports self-regulation, and it is premature to talk about changes to the codes “at the moment.” But the appearance of the OKVED code, the all-powerful SRO, disclaimers, licensing, etc. did not meet with resistance from officials, although with reservations. For example, Natalya Pavlyuchenko, a representative of Rospotrebnadzor, called for a differentiated (depending on the goals of the activity) legal approach and put forward a proposal for “extrajudicial blocking of unscrupulous entities”: “There is such an initiative, we are working on this issue with the Ministry of Digital Development, it concerns the extrajudicial blocking of those services that are illegal.”

The position of the skeptics in the room was most sharply expressed by business coach Radislav Gandapas: “All these rules will be a limitation on those people who earn little and do their work honestly.”

Those few who earn impressive sums from blogging, like scammers, “don’t need it,” he is sure, because the former “have long been outside the jurisdiction,” and the latter “are a priori outside the law and have settled well there.” “Those scammers who actually break laws and evade tax payments will continue to do so, no matter what laws you pass! — medical blogger Oleg Abakumov agreed. “But if you go through the mechanics of encouragement… Let us give bloggers something that will make them want to cover family values, patriotic education, and so on.”

Yana Lantratova promised to take into account and discuss the positions of the departments and the community as part of the further activities of the working group.

Grigory Leiba