Obscene language: where you can’t swear and what the punishment is for it

What words are prohibited in Russia as swear words and what the consequences are for their use in public places and the media space – in the Kommersant material.

What words are considered swear words?

In Russia, the use of obscenities is regulated only in Russian, Swear words in foreign languages ​​are not prohibited. The laws do not clearly define the list of obscene words; they are determined by the police and the prosecutor’s office. Roskomnadzor regulates the use of swear words in the media, and the Federal Antimonopoly Service regulates the use of swear words in advertising.

In Roskomnadzor to swear words include four well-known words and their derivatives. FAS sends away to explanatory dictionaries of the modern Russian literary language, and also offers special linguistic examination. Roskomnadzor also officially allowed the “m” word, which is usually used to scold a mean man.

Mat in a public place

The range of fines and other sanctions for swearing in a public place is very wide. The cheapest way is to swear at an inanimate object on the street (fine 500 rubles), the most severe is for insulting the feelings of believers with obscenities (you can go to jail).

In general swear prohibited in any public place, be it a park, cinema or church. If someone doesn’t like it, they can call the police, who will issue a fine in the amount of 500 to 1 thousand rubles, there is a chance of getting 15 days of arrest under article “Petty hooliganism.”

For the crime it is also necessary violation public order and disrespect for society, but sometimes the very use of obscenities is considered a violation of public order – in December 2019, Spartak fans got 15 days of arrest for swearing at a hotel in St. Petersburg, where, according to them, they went out to “breathe.”

On the Internet, swearing is regulated by the rules of the sites, and the maximum they can endure is a permanent ban, however, swearing in media comments is not allowed. You cannot openly show disrespect for society and the state – for this you can get fine from 30 thousand to 100 thousand rubles.

You cannot offend the feelings of believers – for this, in addition to a fine of 300 thousand rubles. can threaten compulsory and forced labor, as well as imprisonment for up to a year. If the crime was committed in a church, then you can be imprisoned for up to three years.

For insulting a person they can write out a fine of 3 thousand to 5 thousand rubles, but for public insults the fines are more expensive – from 5 thousand to 10 thousand rubles. When insulting a person’s social group, they may suspect in extremism.

Mat in the media and advertising

The use of obscene language in the media is unacceptable And threatens fines both to the author himself (2-3 thousand rubles) and to the company (from 20 thousand to 200 thousand rubles). Equipment used for the offense may also be confiscated. The media is exempt from liability only if it is impossible to predict that the invited guest will swear on air, but for this it is necessary to conduct preventive conversations with the guests.

If the article needs to mention swearing, then this must be done in such a way that it is impossible to guess obscene words either by appearance or by context, for example, erase them or change them beyond recognition using special characters. You cannot hint at swearing with rhyme or other clues. Roskomnadzor always determines the degree to which words can be guessed – this is how a publication can be fined for an obscene word consisting of five stars. The above restrictions also apply to comments on media materials.

You cannot publish links leading to sites with obscene content,– in 2017, Roskomnadzor fined six online publications for publishing videos of rap artists who used obscene language, and in 2018, the media were fined for publishing a video with obscenities against Ksenia Sobchak during her election campaign. According to Roskomnadzor, if an author publishes a link to abusive material, then he wants to show it to his audience, and this is prohibited.

In advertising prohibited not only swear, but also flirt with obscenities — fines from 2 thousand rubles. for individuals and up to 500 thousand rubles. for legal entities. If the FAS finds hints of swearing, then the violators will be punished, for example, in 2019, “Burger King” fined by 100.5 thousand rubles. for advertising with “Kolya from Burger King.” It will not work to advertise clothes with swear words, even if you erase the inscriptions on them.

Checkmate in art

There are no special restrictions on obscene language in creative work; regulation concerns only distribution. The publication of books with obscene language must be accompanied by an immediately noticeable same marked “contains obscene language” or “not suitable for children.” Also, books should be placed in packagingso that a child does not accidentally open a book with swear words. In the absence of markings, fines of up to 50 thousand rubles are threatened, and if samizdat (even without the goal of making a profit) – up to 2.5 thousand rubles.

Likewise on music streaming services must protect children from swearing, for example, age restrictions or special functions. For violations threaten fines from 3 thousand to 500 thousand rubles.

Swearing in public at concerts or in the theater it is forbidden. However, fines are imposed only on the organization of such events, and if the artist decides to use obscene language at the event, then the Ministry of Culture gets involved. However, the courts often come to the defense of the organizers – in 2019 there was discontinued a case of violation of the organization of the Leningrad concert in Rostov, and the groups themselves, according to some media reports, even before the concerts transfer the amounts to the organizers to pay possible fines.

You can’t swear in movies since 2014 When entered due to amendments to the law that prohibited the issuance of distribution certificates for films with obscene language. Then Andrei Zvyagintsev’s film “Leviathan” was one of the first to be banned. Later allowed films with swear words on DVDs marked “18+”, packaging and a warning about obscene language, as well as at film festivals, approved by the Ministry of Culture. You can’t watch movies with swear words on streaming either. Fines for all of the above violations related to cinema range from 50 thousand to 100 thousand rubles.

Briefly about the main thing

In Russia, it is prohibited to swear in public places, publicly scold the authorities, swear in the media, advertising and cinema, and insult other people and the feelings of believers using obscenities. If it is necessary to cover a swear word in the media, it must be replaced with special characters so that it is impossible to guess it; publishing links to resources with swear words is also prohibited. To publish books, you need to mark your work with obscenities with the notes “not for children” and “contains obscene language,” and also wrap it in film. Films with swear words can only be seen on DVDs and film festivals.