The key facts

  • Three initiatives are being prepared: fines for leaks of children's data, restrictions on 'toxic' recommendations, and protection from financial crime
  • Chemeris considers bans ineffective and prioritizes platform-side restrictions
  • Separately, a possible model of internet restrictions for children under 14, following the example of European countries, was discussed

Three areas of work

The State Duma is preparing three new bills on child protection online, which will place additional responsibility on website owners and public page administrators. This was announced by the deputy chair of the Committee on Family Protection, Fatherhood, Motherhood and Childhood Roza Chemeris at the NSN press center. She listed the areas: 'strict turnover-based fines for leaks of minors' data', restricting 'toxic recommendation algorithms', and protecting children from financial crime. In her view, a sharp increase in fines would make protecting children's data profitable for companies, and parents should be able to disable unwanted recommendations on their child's smartphone with a single click.

Why the focus is not on bans

Chemeris called bans for children an ineffective approach: it only leads to children switching to 'unofficial' accounts. According to her, there are three main models — a complete ban, blocking access, and restrictions imposed by platforms — and the last one is the best, since piecemeal measures change nothing. 'The State Duma's position is that responsibility should lie not only with parents but also with the corporations that earn billions from their traffic,' the deputy concluded. Thus, the announced bills shift the emphasis from parental control to platform obligations — this is the key difference from an approach based on outright bans.

Context: discussion of a ban for those under 14

Earlier, the State Duma assessed the likelihood of banning internet access for children under 14. Member of the Committee on Information Policy Anatoly Matveichev told Gazeta.Ru that Russia in this area will look at how similar initiatives are implemented in other countries: a number of European states, including England and France, have banned social networks for teenagers. According to him, Russia will study the negative and positive consequences of this measure and then draw conclusions about the need for such an approach. Roskomnadzor has also previously commented on statements about such a ban. Thus, the idea of completely restricting access for younger teenagers remains a subject of study for now, whereas the three mentioned bills are a declared direction of legislative work, not adopted norms.