Block to help: in 2024 twice as much destructive materials will be removed in Runet
In Russia, the volume of destructive content on the Internet increased in 2024: the number of blocked or deleted materials with calls for mass riots increased 2.2 times, and attempts to involve minors in illegal actions increased almost 1.5 times. Roskomnadzor told Izvestia. Parental control systems have proven to be insufficiently effective, experts say. Chairman of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin has previously announced the discussion of a bill to protect citizens from destructive content, including in video games. Izvestia looked into when the new norms may appear and who they will affect.
How much destructive content is blocked on the Web
Roskomnadzor told Izvestia that in 2024, on the basis of court decisions and the Prosecutor General's Office requirements, the federal service restricted access (or the owners removed at its request) to more than 3.5 thousand materials that called for mass riots, which is 2.2 times more than in 2023. The volume of blocked content that involved minors in unlawful actions increased almost 1.5 times - up to 33.2 thousand materials.
To promptly limit access to illegal information, interaction with the administrations of Russian social networks has been organized, Roskomnadzor added.
The parental control systems introduced earlier proved to be insufficiently effective in protecting children and teenagers from destructive content on the Internet, said State Duma deputy Anton Nemkin. Outdated regulatory measures could not cope with the new challenges brought by modern technologies and digital platforms, he emphasized.
- Modern digital platforms, including social networks and video games, provide many opportunities for the dissemination of undesirable information, which easily circumvented existing restrictions. "As a result, we are seeing an increase in calls to commit illegal acts and active involvement of minors in them, which is reasonably alarming," the deputy told Izvestia.
According to him, the difficulty lies in the fact that the Internet is a global environment where information spreads instantly, and its control requires adapting legislation to modern realities.
Not so long ago the discussion of a bill on the protection of citizens from destructive content, including in video games, began, announced the chairman of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin.
"In recent years, there have been a number of cases of students attacking students and teachers in schools. The actions were provoked by their participation in video games. Children and teenagers, committing such acts, often think that they continue to be in the virtual world, as the line between it and real reality is erased," he wrote in his Telegram-channel.
It is planned to involve the parent community, teachers and experts in the discussion of the bill.
"The solution we reach must necessarily be of a balanced nature. I emphasize once again, it is about protecting children from destructive content on the Internet and video games," Vyacheslav Volodin summarized.
The bill, introduced in the State Duma in December 2024, suggests mandatory labeling of content in video games. According to it, developers and distributors of games will be obliged to put not only age markings on them, but also information indicating the presence of cruelty, violence, foul language, alcohol, drugs and the like in the story.
What regulations are needed to protect children
Destructive content today is an incredible amount - for example, Telegram has become a platform for the distribution of destructive, where no law does not apply, said the chairman of the Committee on Information Security of the family of the union "Parents' Chamber" Andrei Afanasiev. New norms of regulation are simply necessary, he noted.
- As for games such as Dota 2, Counter-Strike, Roblox, enforcement measures should be taken separately just for foreign platforms, because simply recommendations will not work, - the expert emphasized.
The main problem is that every modern game is a mini-social network with a set of all the existing destructive, where the registration does not require neither mail nor phone, as, for example, in Roblox, emphasized Andrei Afanasiev, adding that this should not be the case in general.
Public and state initiative to protect children from malicious content is certainly an important direction, given that today children spend a significant part of their time on the Internet, said lawyer of the Intellectual Property practice of Lemchik, Krupsky & Partners Yulia Yezerskaya.
As part of the protection of children, among other measures, video games will have to be subject to expert examination to detect the presence of information prohibited for distribution in Russia. It seems that modern "creators" will act within the set norms, which will somewhat limit the freedom of creative idea in the public interest, says the lawyer.
However, according to the leading counsel of the intellectual property practice of the EBR law firm, the draft law in its current form needs to be finalized.
- It does not take into account a number of important aspects of interaction between users and video game developers, especially with regard to the use of accounts to access games. In addition, the proposed measures may put Russian companies at a disadvantage compared to foreign competitors. Domestic developers will have to incur additional administrative and financial costs to connect to the Unified Identification and Authentication System (USIA), while foreign companies will be able to continue offering their games to Russian users without these costs," the lawyer said.
This creates significant risks for businesses, as many organizations will have to allocate funds to integrate their systems with the ESIA, he added.
