Regulation of the activities of bloggers and information businessmen was discussed at a round table in the State Duma

The Russian authorities are ready to create a differentiated legal field for the blogosphere and the information business market. Deputies, officials and industry representatives discussed relevant initiatives on Monday at a round table in the State Duma. Parliamentarians propose to begin market standardization with the development of a separate OKVED code for bloggers. As planned, market participants themselves should propose criteria and set professional standards, and the newly created Association of Bloggers and Agencies (ABA) will probably become a pioneer here.

Development of blogger OKVED, according to the initiator thematic round table State Duma deputy Yana Lantratova (“A Just Russia – For the Truth”), industry experts agreed at a meeting with First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration Sergei Kiriyenko. “In fact, this will mean the recognition of blogging as a profession,” she explained during the discussion. But judging by the discourse stated at the event, the bloggers will not get away with purely formal consequences of this recognition.

“The history of relations between the authorities and bloggers is long, but, unfortunately, unproductive,” Deputy Chairman of the Duma Pyotr Tolstoy opened the meeting (“United Russia”), noting that now most bloggers consider deputies to be “gloomy characters” focused on prohibitions. In response, they often call bloggers “irresponsible talkers,” the vice speaker admitted: “The relationship was not easy, now we will simplify it, make it more transparent, understandable, and predictable.”

The impressive economic indicators of the industry provide the reason for an in-depth discussion of blogging and the information business, as follows from the words of Mr. Tolstoy.

Market participants must orient deputies regarding the legislative initiatives they require, support measures and, of course, increased responsibility, United Russia indicated. “Our media are limited by a certain law and are obliged to bear responsibility for the information that they disseminate,” he recalled. “You have no such obligations, and no one can impose such obligations on you except yourself, if you want.” “People who have a huge number of subscribers have gathered here, and we respect each of your subscribers, just like you, because they are also our voters,” summed up Peter Tolstoy, wishing the opinion leaders to “move up” primarily from the point of view content of the content produced.

The co-founder of the ABA was one of the first to speak in favor of a “constructive dialogue” with the authorities (about its creation see “Kommersant” dated December 8) Maxim Perlin. He advocated the introduction of OKVED and mentioned the growth of up to 50 billion rubles. blogger market and suggested that regulation of the industry would allow players to receive individual benefits and increase social status.

The mood for cooperation was supported by businessman and millionaire blogger Igor Rybakov, who simultaneously announced the creation of a “confederation of socially useful bloggers”, psychologist Mikhail Labkovsky, who insisted on the need to license online education, TV presenter Tutta Larsen and other representatives of the blogosphere. Representatives of the Ministry of Digital Development, the Federal Tax Service, Rospotrebnadzor and the Ministry of Economy highly appreciated the willingness of industry workers to cooperate. “The standards are developed by the community, the state approves them,” the head of Rosstandart, Anton Shalaev, reassured bloggers.

However, it was not without criticism. General concerns were expressed by business coach Radislav Gandapas: he considered it pointless to “separate the wheat from the chaff,” criticized the potential need to license the activities of information businessmen and doubted the impartiality of thematic associations, comparing their activities with the Stalinist Writers’ Union. His colleague’s arguments were shared by business coach Maxim Batyrev, who still hasn’t figured out whether he is an information businessman or not: “I often have the same organizers who organize Philip Kirkorov’s concerts, but what’s the difference for government officials? Why is Vladimir Pozner’s creative evening not regulated, although he takes money for information, and Maxim Batyrev’s speeches are regulated? I want to understand where the line is.” The deputies will try to find this line and formalize it legislatively, Yana Lantratova promised: “Following the results of our meeting, we will create a working group where we will include interested parties: all questions on the OKVED topic and everything that should be, we will fix there.”

The authorities became concerned with work in the “blogger” area at the beginning of the year, recalls political scientist Ilya Grashchenkov: “There really are quite large sums involved, and if before it was a gray area, now they want to “put it under the microscope” and begin to control who receives income ” Political motives, according to the expert, work here “to a lesser extent”, since “most of the top political bloggers” work outside of Russia, and billions of dollars in turnover are recorded mainly by fashion and business trainers. “I would not exaggerate the role of these bloggers, but for their audience they are authorities, they are opinion leaders,” notes political scientist Alexey Makarkin, in turn. And it is possible that the authorities, in addition to purely economic issues, are exploring the possibility of leaving these players “in the field of view of the state and from a political point of view,” he admits: “A person can be completely apolitical today, but who knows what will happen tomorrow and will not can he talk about politics with an audience and established authority?”

Grigory Leiba