It was decided to leave the recommendations without concessions

Before the end of the year, a draft law on recommender algorithms on the Internet, which makes it possible to turn them off, may be submitted to the State Duma. Despite numerous criticism from the industry, the authors plan to leave the broadest interpretation: social networks, video hosting, online cinemas, search engines and marketplaces may fall under the requirements in the current version. The latter estimate the losses from the new regulation at 100 billion rubles. in year. Complete disabling of recommender algorithms will require services to maintain two versions of the platform, experts explain.

Kommersant got acquainted with one of the latest versions of the draft law on the regulation of recommendation services of online platforms, which is being developed by Anton Gorelkin, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy. The version of the document that Kommersant has at its disposal implies the widest possible regulation. It follows from it that all owners of sites or information systems that use such technologies should ensure the possibility of “full or partial” refusal of users to use recommender technologies. Thus, social networks, video hosting, online cinemas, search engines, marketplaces and other services may fall under the project.

According to two interlocutors, the draft was previously sent to the State Duma apparatus, and it is planned to submit it before the end of the year. Kommersant’s sources say that during the discussion, the document underwent a number of changes, but in the end, the authors decided to leave the broadest possible interpretation, and introduce amendments to the second reading. The bill is indeed at a high stage of readiness and its concept involves a responsible approach to the use of recommender algorithms from all market participants in order to protect user rights and prevent manipulation by digital platforms, Anton Gorelkin confirmed to Kommersant. “To consider its impact on individual services or areas, in my opinion, would be wrong,” he said.

It also follows from the draft that Roskomnadzor will be able to request from the owners of information resources data related “to the provision or distribution information using recommender technologies. They must be submitted within ten days of receipt of the request.

The regulation of advisory services has been discussed since 2021 (see Kommersant dated October 15). Initially, the deputies justified its necessity by saying that the content selected on the basis of recommendation algorithms on Facebook, Instagram (the sites are blocked in Russia, belong to Meta, which is recognized as extremist in the country and banned), YouTube and other resources, increases the risks of social conflicts. The initiative was opposed at various times by the owners of social networks and search engines, including VK and Yandex (see “Kommersant” dated May 27), online cinemas, as well as technology startups developing recommender algorithms (see “Kommersant” dated July 17 ).

The adoption of the bill in terms of online commerce “will throw the market into the past,” says Artem Sokolov, president of the Association of Internet Commerce Companies. “Without recommender algorithms, online stores will turn into catalogs that were used 20 years ago,” he said. He estimated the losses of the industry from the introduction of regulation at more than 100 billion rubles. annually. The Ministry of Digital Development did not answer “Kommersant”. Yandex, VK, MTS, Ozon and Avito declined to comment.

Until now, it was more about framework regulation, in terms of transparency requirements, the possibility of turning off the recommendation, said Karen Kazaryan, Director of Analytics at ANO Tsifrovaya ekonomika. According to him, the spread of regulation to all Internet services, including commerce, will lead to the need to revise their business model. “The presence or absence of fine-tuning is precisely the difference between the profitability or loss of a service that is often free for users, and will also negatively affect the development of technologies,” he says. According to Karen Ghazaryan, ANO is preparing a consolidated position of the business community for further discussion.

Kommersant’s interlocutor in the IT industry says that it is technically impossible to partially disable recommender technologies, and completely disabling them will require costs – “this will entail the need to support at least two versions of the platform.” Oleksandra Orekhovich, director of legal initiatives at the Internet Initiatives Development Fund, adds that in terms of marketplaces, “the path of any product to the user will become longer: in addition to the process economics being affected, the costs of technological solutions may increase.”

Anastasia Gavrilyuk, Yulia Tishina