The State Duma wants to ban the advertising of astrologers and nutritionists. What you need to know

A bill banning the advertising of esoteric services and spiritual practices has been submitted to the State Duma. Offers of services from alchemists, astrologers, nutritionists, and other categories of occult professions may be subject to restrictions. Exceptions will be made for representatives of traditional religious denominations. What is written in the bill is in the material of Izvestia.

What is the bill about

• The bill is aimed at banning the advertising of spiritual practices, esoteric and energy services. He amends two federal laws: "On Advertising" and "On Information, Information Technology and Information Protection." The bill was sponsored by State Duma deputies Nina Ostanina, Alexey Kornienko (both from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation) and Andrey Svintsov (LDPR faction).

This is not the first attempt by State Duma deputies to stop the spread of esoteric services. In January, Svintsov had already submitted his own bill for consideration, which banned the advertising of tarologist services. However, the proposal did not meet with understanding either in the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Information Technologies and Communications, or in the government of the Russian Federation. Svintsov's bill did not contain a definition of "tarologist services," which raised the risk of arbitrary interpretation of the law and the impossibility of its implementation.

• The new draft law already specifically defines that esoteric services are the activities of various individuals who identify themselves as belonging to certain non-standard professions and categories. The text of the document contains a detailed list of what kind of persons they may be, and defines them. For example, the bill proposes to ban the advertising of alchemists — these are people who provide consultations and offer practical recommendations based on their claimed ability to "promote the transformation of physical and psycho-emotional human states."

Which professions will be banned

• In total, the deputies identified 36 categories of various types of esotericists who are asked to ban advertising of their services. In addition to alchemists, these are astrologers, aura diagnosticians, bioenergetic therapists, witches, spiritual mentors (they are also gurus), igropractors, cosmoenergetics, crystal therapists, magicians, mediums, neurographers, neurocoders, numerologists, nutritionists, lucid dream practitioners, arrangers, regressologists, reiki masters, runists, runologists, vastu specialists, tantra and feng Shui, tarologists, healers, palmists, digital psychologists, chakra therapists, chakrologists, channelers, esoteric coaches and purifiers, energy practitioners, energy psychologists and energy therapists.

• In some cases, it is specified that esotericists will be classified into one of the categories on the grounds that they do not have the specialized education necessary to provide services. In order for an igropractor, a neurologist, a lucid dream practitioner, a pacemaker, and a regressologist not to be banned, it is necessary to have a higher psychological education or be a member of a psychological organization. Nutritionists will be able to advertise their services if they have a higher medical education.

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The bill was passed immediately in the second and third readings.

• The bill does not apply to the actions of religious organizations of traditional faiths. Spiritual mentors and magicians will not include those who represent legally operating religious organizations and conduct their ritual and ceremonial practices.

• The draft laws also do not mention psychics, wizards, warlocks, fortune tellers, clairvoyants, healers, occultists, as well as specialists in reality transfer and human design.

What are the prohibitions?

• The bill is aimed at suppressing the advertising of esoteric services. If such an advertisement is found in information and telecommunication networks, including the Internet, the Prosecutor General of Russia or his deputies will be able to contact the media and mass communications control and supervision authorities to restrict access to advertising resources. If we are talking about social networks (in addition to those in which any advertising is prohibited by law), then the page on which the advertisement is placed will be blocked.

• If an esoteric advertisement is removed from an information resource, its owner can inform the supervisory authorities about it, after which they will check and give permission to providers to return access to the site or other resource.