Just don’t cheat – Kommersant

Although Russian regulation of the Internet has taken its own path in recent years, different from Western approaches, there are signs of a reverse trend. In the foreign media, information appeared immediately about two European initiatives, which are in many ways similar to the decisions of the Russian authorities. Thus, the UK government has developed a bill regulating the safety of citizens on the Internet and requiring instant messengers and social networks to comply with local requirements for the use of technologies to combat terrorism and child abuse. For non-performance, the project introduces penalties: 10% of the global turnover for specific services.

Foreign messengers, including WhatsApp, opposed the initiative, as it could violate user privacy due to government access to end-to-end encryption technology, writes The Guardian. The British project is similar to the requirements of the Russian authorities, enshrined in the Yarovaya Law, which came into force in 2018 and led to a two-year formal blocking (however, not very effective) of the Telegram messenger. The consonance of measures in the current situation of confrontation between countries is surprising. But even more unexpected is the initiative of the European Union, which almost duplicates the law “on landing” of foreign IT companies, adopted in the Russian Federation.

The European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA) announced on May 11 that it is preparing requirements for the protection of confidential information in the EU, affecting the work of companies in foreign cloud services (Amazon, Microsoft, etc.). They involve either the separation of a subsidiary from the parent structure in the United States, or the creation of a joint venture with European services, writes Bloomberg. This refers to the very localization of user data, for which they fought for a long time in Russia.

One can only guess whether the European regulators took into account the Russian experience, especially since one can cite as an example a state that is much more advanced in terms of rigidity of requirements for IT – China. Lawyers admit that the very trend of state intervention in the digital environment is observed all over the world and the projects of Europe and the Russian Federation have much in common. But there is also a difference. If in Russia the pressure on foreign companies was primarily political in nature (despite the formal appeal to security and taxes), then in the case of the EU, the introduction of fines and “localization” are still more like a desire to replenish the budget.

However, foreign companies did not have time to suffer from the new Russian norms, nor did they have time to adapt to them – the conflict in Ukraine led to the departure of almost all players from the Russian Federation. So they will have to navigate the new regulation of the EU and the UK from scratch.