The State Duma Committee on Information Policy has approved an amendment to the Law “On Advertising” that would require owners of channels in instant messengers with an audience of over ten thousand people to provide information about themselves to Roskomnadzor. The head of the committee, Alexander Khinshtein, reported this development.
The amendment, which is set for the second reading, stipulates that users whose personal pages have an audience of more than 10 thousand users on social networks must:
- Provide Roskomnadzor with information for identification, with the composition of the information and the procedure for submission to be determined by the government.
- Ensure that information distributed on their page is not from a source not included in the relevant list.
Roskomnadzor will create a list of users whose page audiences exceed 10 thousand users, and those not on the list will not be able to legally place advertisements. Channels that adhere to Russian laws will be listed by Roskomnadzor and marked by the social network.
According to Khinshtein, complying channels will be allowed to operate as usual, but those without verification will not be able to place advertisements or receive donations, and their content will not be replicated by other channels.
The initial discussion was around extending these requirements to bloggers with a daily audience of over one thousand people, but the threshold was ultimately raised.
Roskomnadzor stresses the significance of online platforms serving as media outlets for Russians and the need for user information transparency and accountability for content distribution.
Bloggers are expected to provide their full name and contact details to Roskomnadzor as a notification of their role in distributing information, rather than a registration requirement.