The bill on blocking trash content on the Internet was adopted in the first reading

The State Duma on Thursday approved in the first reading the third bill from a package of initiatives to counter trash streams. The document obliges online platforms to identify and remove photo and video materials demonstrating cruelty. Earlier, corresponding amendments to the Criminal Code (CC) and Administrative Code (CAO) passed their first reading. Deputies supported the project unanimously, but still asked whether resources hosting feature films with violent scenes would suffer from the new law, and whether “central television” was to blame for the emergence of trash streams.

Amendments to the laws “On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection” and “On the Protection of Children from Information Harmful to Their Health and Development” were submitted to the State Duma by a group of deputies of all factions and senators on December 8, 2023. “In the eyes of a part of society, especially young people, cruelty and bullying from marginal, condemned phenomena are turning not only into acceptable, but also into profitable ones, giving a chance to “wake up famous”, and as a result, they are gaining more and more new adherents. The bill proposes to deprive the authors of these materials, the so-called trash streamers, of an audience and the opportunity to continue their activities for the purpose of earning money,” the explanatory note says.

The bill introduces a new category of prohibited information – photographic and video materials depicting illegal acts committed with cruelty, their consequences, or calls for the commission of these actions. Accordingly, Roskomnadzor will have the right to block such content pre-trial. The responsibility for identifying and removing illegal information rests with online platforms.

Let us remind you that on January 25, two other initiatives from the package passed their first reading – changes to the Code of Administrative Offenses and the Criminal Code. Amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses introduce fines from 200 thousand to 600 thousand rubles for the dissemination of such information. for citizens and from 300 thousand to 700 thousand rubles. for officials. The confiscation of equipment for its production is also envisaged. Amendments to the Criminal Code transfer the organization of trash streams to the category of aggravating circumstances.

Co-author of the project Artem Metelev (United Russia), telling deputies about it, immediately warned: “For now we have them (the bills.— “Kommersant”) we accept, every day these non-humans become heroes of the news.” He gave a recent example: the other day the police detained a resident of Yaroslavl who filmed the beating of underage girls. Mr. Metelev emphasized that the amendments will not affect “respectable citizens who, due to the nature of their work, deal with border content”: military officers, animal rights activists, or simply people who publish footage of a crime to attract the attention of law enforcement officers. “Why? Because it is the malicious intent of the criminal act that is important. Punishment will be provided if the publication was made for selfish and hooligan purposes or to incite hatred or enmity,” the United Russia member explained. “In other words, if a person deliberately mocks others on camera, tries to get some benefit, then he will be brought to justice.” responsibility.”

Speaking with a co-report from the Committee on Information Policy, its chairman Alexander Khinshtein (ER) admitted that the bill may have been “even a little late,” but the proposed mechanism, in his opinion, “will become a real tool in countering this evil.”

The deputies completely agreed with the concept of the amendments, but still asked several clarifying questions.

Thus, Oleg Leonov (“New People”) asked whether feature films would suffer from the new norms: for example, the famous Soviet film “Come and See” contains violent scenes and is posted on various platforms “for the purpose of profit.” Artem Metelev responded that the amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses specifically state that works of artistic value do not fall under their scope. And Alexander Khinshtein proposed for the second reading to “refine the wording” and “more clearly define the signs of differentiation of this kind of material so that they would not include, say, videos made by military corks, or footage of military operations, if, God forbid, someone broadcast the cruelty of the Ukrainian junta.”

Nikolai Kolomeytsev (Communist Party of the Russian Federation) stood up for the Russian language: “Maybe we need to get away from trash and streams and formulate phenomena in Russian?” Mr. Metelev objected that in the text of the bill this phenomenon is described in Russian words, and the term “trash stream” is used “so that it is clear in the hall what kind of phenomenon we are talking about.” And Mr. Khinshtein reminded that the words “deputy” and “parliament” also have foreign origins, and suggested that the communist Kolomeytsev himself come up with a Russian analogue of trash stream.

The head of the Family Protection Committee, Nina Ostanina, speaking from the Communist Party faction, expressed another idea: not to give this phenomenon any Russian analogues, “because we want to eradicate it.” At the same time, she suggested thinking about who is to blame “for the deculturation of our population.” “You must agree that in many ways trash streamers take as their models what they see on the screens of central television,” Ms. Ostanina noted and complained that the heads of central television channels never came to Duma meetings.

Vice-Speaker Boris Chernyshov (LDPR) also positively assessed the absence of a Russian equivalent of the term “trash stream”: “This means that the institution has not taken root in our country.”

As a result, 390 deputies voted for the adoption of the bill in the first reading, with no votes against or abstentions.

Ksenia Veretennikova