Danaite troops: is it possible to get a fine for an audio message
A court in Moscow fined 3,000 rubles to a resident of the capital for an offensive voice message sent to a messenger. This is not the first punishment imposed for insulting a messenger, although more often cases relate to conflicts in shared chats. Izvestia investigated how to prove that a voice message was offensive, whether it is possible to punish a message that has already been deleted, and how judicial practice differs in online and offline communication.
Why was a Muscovite woman fined for voice mail
The court's decision was reported to the media on Monday, January 12. A court in Moscow (which one is not specified) considered the case of an insult inflicted by one woman on another by sending her "offensive audio messages." The recipient contacted the prosecutor's office, and as a result, signs of an offense under Article 5.61 of the Administrative Code "Insult" were found in the actions of the woman who sent the voicemail.
The woman who sent the voice message confessed her guilt, repenting of what she had done. She was fined 3,000 rubles, which is the minimum penalty possible for this offense.
It is specified that one of the evidence in the case was the "act of listening to an audio recording."
Izvestia sent questions to the Moscow Prosecutor's office about the case.
Previously, punishments had already been imposed for insults in messengers and social networks. So, the case in May 2025 in Ulan-Ude turned out to be resonant, where the Zheleznodorozhny district court fined 10,000 local residents who insulted a person with a surname ending in "-ko" in a group house chat ("You Ukrainians are all mean" is quoted in the court materials). The woman was fined under Article 20.3.1 of the Administrative Code ("Incitement of hatred or enmity, as well as humiliation of human dignity"). The Supreme Court of Buryatia confirmed the correctness of the decision.
But the district court in Krasnoyarsk canceled a fine for insulting in a country chat using the word "habalka" and a clown emoji. The woman complained to the prosecutor's office about a neighbor who called her names in a chat. The prosecutor admitted that the combination of the word and the smiley face was offensive, and the court fined the local resident 5,000 rubles. However, in September 2025, the district court overturned this decision, not because there was no insult, but because the evidence was based on "victim perception" rather than linguistic or other expertise.
A resident of the Republic of Mari El had to pay a fine of 5,000 rubles for insulting in a parent chat in February 2025. Then the student's father sent voice messages to the parent group chat with insults against the mother of another student. He was convicted under Part 2 of Article 5.61 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation — this is not just an insult, but also a public one.
Can the court's decision be considered a new precedent
Alexey Gavrishev, Managing Partner of AVG Legal, stressed that there is nothing fundamentally new in the Moscow court's decision.
— The novelty here is more in public perception than in law. An insult in a messenger has long been qualified in the same way as offline: in fact, it's all the same humiliation of honor and dignity, expressed in an indecent form, it's just that the communication channel has become digital. And there has been judicial practice on this issue for several years," he told Izvestia.
According to him, there is no serious difference for the court in exactly how the insult was inflicted: by voice message, text or picture.
Evgeny Kostromin, founder of the ContractCreation by Kostromin legal boutique, notes that this case is interesting because the act of listening to a voice message compiled by the prosecutor's office was used as evidence. But in general, the Presidium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation has already drawn attention to the category of online insults cases - it was included in the review of judicial practice back in 2021.
Vladimir Kuznetsov, Vice President of the Association of Lawyers for Registration, Liquidation, Bankruptcy and Judicial Representation, emphasizes that insults on the Internet can potentially spread much more widely and quickly than in everyday life. This means that it can also increase the damage to the victim's reputation, which, in turn, may affect the amount of a fine or compensation for moral damage in a civil case.
Alexey Gavrishev, in turn, predicts the expansion of the practice of such punishments, because people "carry conflicts in numbers, and the courts are forced to go there for them."
How to prove an insult in court
Polina Kurdanova, a senior expert psychologist and linguist at the Center for Special Research and Expertise, emphasizes that the fact of the insult is established by the court. If there are doubts about its application, then signs of offensive speech can be identified within the framework of linguistic expertise.
— When conducting an expert examination for a linguist, there is no difference between oral and written speech in the framework of these cases. Phrases and emoticons are always examined in context, the communication situation, the people in contact, their social status and roles are taken into account — for example, when insulting a government official, a policeman, a judge, criminal liability immediately follows, — said the interlocutor of Izvestia.
According to her, the responsibility for insults is not limited to live conversation or offline communication: in the Center's practice, there was a linguistic examination of inscriptions on a stone, as well as images on a T-shirt.
"For us, it's just a text or a set of signs that needs to be explored using techniques, dictionaries, and our own special knowledge," she said.
Polina Kurdanova stressed that an insult can also lead to criminal liability if it contains defamatory information, as it can be punished under Article 128.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
Alexey Gavrishev added that if offline evidence of guilt depends on the presence of witnesses, then screenshots, audio files, metadata, device readings, and sometimes notarization of correspondence play a key role when communicating in messengers.
— And even, for example, deleting a message in a messenger does not save you from a fine: if the addressee managed to record it, save a voice message or contact a notary, the message continues to "live" as proof. Moreover, in some cases, it is possible to request technical information from the service or confirm the fact of sending it through an expert examination," he noted.
Vladimir Kuznetsov notes that the latter option is difficult and not always feasible. Therefore, it is better to immediately take screenshots and save audio messages. He also urges not to neglect the testimony of witnesses if the insult was committed in a group chat or in the presence of others.
Alexander Getmanov, partner of the Moscow Bar Association R&M Defense, notes that in the case of a voice message, an examination of the audio recording can be carried out to determine whether the voice belongs to a specific person, if suddenly the sender's name is hidden.
Are online insults more common
Olga Lukinova, an expert on digital etiquette, emphasizes that every year the line between online and offline is blurring more and more. However, two fundamental differences remain.
— Firstly, there are no facial expressions or intonations in the correspondence. Therefore, the emotions and intentions of the interlocutors can be greatly distorted," she told Izvestia. — Secondly, offline communication occurs synchronously, while online communication is disrupted in time: there is always at least a small pause between the remarks, which allows you to adjust the answer.
However, the second feature does not insure against insults. People often write offensive and hurtful things because they don't see the other person and the effect the words have on them. That's why they don't understand when it's time to stop their anger and aggression, the expert emphasized.
The "online disinhibition effect" was discovered back in 2004. Then psychologist John Suler published a paper in the journal CyberPsychology & Behavior, in which he pointed out the weakening of psychological barriers that force people to behave online in a way they usually don't in real life. According to the researcher's observations, online people feel less restricted by social norms, which can enhance the expression of emotions, including aggression and rudeness.
And in 2023, the Institute for Statistical Research and Economics of Knowledge at the National Research University Higher School of Economics published a study on destructive behavior in social networks. The article stated that almost a third (29%) of social media users had experienced communicative aggression in just three months prior to the survey. One of the most common forms is offensive comments about yourself. 8% of the respondents received them, 10% were subjected to "hostile attacks", 2% received threats against themselves or their loved ones, and another 2% became victims of posting false or compromising information about themselves.
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