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- Content view: in the Russian Federation, they want to equate destructive information with extremist
Content view: in the Russian Federation, they want to equate destructive information with extremist
Russia intends to equate destructive content with extremist content, which will allow it to be blocked in a pre-trial manner. The relevant amendments to the law "On Information" are planned to be submitted to the State Duma by the end of the year. For the first time, they will consolidate the very concept of destructive content, which today means propaganda of violence, suicide, drugs, LGBT (the movement is recognized as extremist and banned in the Russian Federation), child pornography and other dangerous materials. According to Roskomnadzor, the volume of such information blocks doubled in 2025. Experts fear that excessive stricter filtering may lead to the opposite effect: prohibited materials will go into private chats and encrypted channels, and users may face excessive restrictions under the pretext of ensuring security.
Will they tighten control over online content
Russia is considering an initiative to equate destructive content with extremist content. This issue is being discussed in the State Duma as part of amendments to the law on Information, which are being prepared by Andrei Svintsov, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Information Technology and Communications.
— The corresponding proposal is currently being finalized. We must become the first country in the world to place a very serious emphasis on cleaning the Internet from dirt, fakes, and endless content created by bots. That is, the task is for Russia to become an example to the whole world of how to restore order on the Internet. There are all the technical possibilities for this," the deputy told Izvestia.
According to him, correct formulations are currently being developed together with the expert community, including representatives of the scientific community and bloggers.
— Such content will be equated to LGBT or extremist materials and automatically blocked by Roskomnadzor. I hope that the relevant proposals will be officially submitted to the State Duma by the end of the year," said Andrey Svintsov.
Destructive content is a comprehensive concept, and, in fact, it can include any materials that may negatively affect a person's psyche or form unacceptable behavior, said Sergey Uzdensky, managing partner of the law firm Mushailov, Uzdensky, Rybakov and Partners.
"If the legislative initiative is implemented, all measures of responsibility that are currently applied to extremism, including administrative and criminal liability, will begin to apply to destructive content," he explained.
According to the lawyer, currently, in accordance with Article 15.3 of the Law No. 149 "On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection," Roskomnadzor has the authority to block extremist information.
— The initiative is aimed at strengthening control over the Internet space. The main risk is the blurring of the key concept of "destructive content", which can lead to restrictions on freedom of speech under the pretext of protecting citizens," said Sergey Uzdensky.
The expert suggested that a register of destructive content could be created later, similar to the list of extremist materials maintained by the Ministry of Justice. In his opinion, this legislative initiative requires detailed study.
The issue of enshrining the concept of "destructive content" in legislation has been raised before. One of the initiators in 2024 was State Duma Deputy Speaker Anna Kuznetsova: she reported that deputies received a large number of requests from parents asking them to protect children from dangerous information on the Internet. However, this issue has not been resolved yet.
What regulations will be introduced regarding destructive content?
In practice, destructive content is understood to mean information expressed in an indecent form, insulting dignity, containing calls for illegal actions or provoking dangerous behavior: self-harm, suicide, hooking, rufing, manufacturing weapons, riots, spreading fakes about emergencies and drug propaganda, a lawyer at the Legal Center for Bloggers and Agencies told Izvestia. Ksenia Grenaderova, Association of Bloggers and Agencies.
According to her, anything can be classified as destructive, so it is important to clearly distinguish between what really causes harm and what is only perceived subjectively.
Equating destructive content with extremist means that the same measures will be applied to it, namely: extrajudicial blocking by Roskomnadzor, forced deletion of materials, termination of resources and accounts, as well as administrative and criminal liability for distributors.
The press service of Roskomnadzor told Izvestia that in ten months of 2025, the agency deleted or blocked almost twice as much destructive content as in the same period of 2024.
In particular, according to the agency, the blocking of child pornography content has increased significantly (from 49.6 thousand to 138.5 thousand), pro-drug content (from 100.2 thousand to 200.6 thousand) and materials about the involvement of minors in illegal activities (from 29.6 thousand to 42.3 thousand). The number of deleted suicidal content also increased (from 22.6 thousand to 26.3 thousand), while the number of calls for mass riots, on the contrary, decreased (from 1.9 thousand to 0.7 thousand).
Yulia Zagitova, founder of the Breaking Trends communication agency and secretary of the Russian Union of Journalists, called the deputies' initiative generally correct. According to her, when it comes to propaganda of violence, suicide or child molestation, it ceases to be a matter of "freedom of speech" and turns into a threat to society, especially to young people.
— From a technical point of view, it is possible to block such content, but the key question is whether this will help to radically reduce its impact. Experience shows that harsh filters often lead to the opposite effect: content migrates to private chats and encrypted channels, and destructive content continues to live, just in a different form," she believes.
So the law is rather a necessary barrier to the most outright and widespread harm, but the fight against destructive is not just about blocking, the expert concluded.
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