There are questions about Duolingo – Kommersant FM

There are questions about Duolingo – Kommersant FM

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Roskomnadzor will check the Duolingo service for LGBT propaganda.
This is the most popular language learning app in the world. The platform was suspected of violating the law by the public organization “Rathetel” from Ufa. Its participants showed screenshots from the application, where users are asked to repeat phrases using the words “gay” and “lesbian” out loud. Previously, the Supreme Court declared the LGBT movement extremist and banned it.

Social activists demanded that access to the service be limited. What is the threat to the application? And can he be blocked? Kommersant FM discussed this with the founder of the Moscow Human Rights Center, Mikhail Salkin: “One gets the feeling that they deny the very existence of such people.

But then we would have to punish, among other things, the use of the words “terrorist” and “extremist.” In my opinion, there is no violation here. There is such a word in dictionaries, but to use or not to use it is the right of the citizen who is learning the language.

I think that the audit will not find any violations. If Roskomnadzor discovers something, then there is administrative liability, which provides for a fine for the very fact of placement. At the same time, a warning is issued that information included in the list of prohibited materials must be deleted. If deletion does not occur, then a blocking clause is included, but there should always be time for deletion.”

The Duolingo service allows you to learn over 30 languages ​​for free and is used by more than 500 million people around the world. The company itself is based in the United States, and its website states that it supports equal employment opportunities and does not tolerate discrimination, including on the basis of sexual orientation.

Most likely, the service will not delete content that has outraged social activists, suggests Roman Yankovsky, a partner at Tomashevskaya and Partners: “Video games were probably the first to adapt.

In Australia there are quite strict requirements; in Germany it is prohibited to use fascist symbols. There, starting from the first Wolfenstein 3D games, the fascists were presented in some other form, and they also monitor the use of blood effects. In Arab countries they are attentive to everything that concerns explicit scenes, which by our standards are rather toothless.

The question is how important a specific jurisdiction is for a company, and how transparent and adequate the requirements are.

I fully admit that Duolingo will not follow the lead, simply by assessing the market and the risks. Foreign companies do not block content if the blocking itself could raise questions in their home country.

Of course, when we talk about, for example, fascist symbols or blocking pornographic or near-pornographic moments, it is usually perceived as something like, look, yes, they have these rules, but we obey them. And when something is allowed and even welcomed in a country, the question is raised in such a way that you support the wrong values.”

On Friday, the Moscow City Court recognized the legality of the decision to fine the Eksmo-AST publishing house for LGBT propaganda. Previously, the authority ordered the company to pay 900 thousand rubles. for disseminating information about the book “Dove Gennady”.


Everything is clear with us – Telegram channel “Kommersant FM”.

Ulyana Gorelova, Daniil Babkin

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