Russia Plans to Introduce Special Punishment for Bloggers Providing Educational Services
In Russia, a special punishment is being planned for bloggers who provide educational services to the population. This was reported by the newspaper “Izvestia”.
The working group of the State Duma, headed by Deputy Speaker Petr Tolstoy (“United Russia”) and First Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Education Yana Lantratova (“A Just Russia – For Truth”), plans to discuss amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses and the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation at a meeting on March 21. Representatives of the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media, the Ministry of Economic Development, the Federal Agency for Technical Regulation and Metrology, as well as members of the blogging community, have been invited to participate in this meeting.
It is planned to add a new article to the Code of Administrative Offenses called “Provision of information services using distance technologies by a person who is not a member of a self-regulatory organization”.
According to the explanations of the working group, responsibility under this article will be imposed on bloggers who sell information products without the appropriate accreditation, which legislators also plan to introduce. To obtain accreditation, it is proposed to apply to a specially created organization.
Lantratova explained that if a blogger provides services without accreditation, there are no guarantees of product quality and the absence of harm to people or fraudulent activity. The document also mentions amendments to the Criminal Code aimed at introducing punishment for unaccredited bloggers for providing distance information and advisory services that cause significant damage to citizens, organizations, or the state.
As an example of inappropriate activity, the working group mentioned business trainer Denis Baiguzhin, who, using psychological methods and manipulation, caused damage to his clients in the amount of over 6 million rubles. He convinced his clients to invest in his “business empire”, become partners, and promised them passive income in the form of a percentage of the profits of his companies.
Earlier, Senator Sheykin stated that the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology, and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor) will block all VPN services from March 1, 2024.
