"Risks of harm to life and health": Roskomnadzor will fine social networks for calls for unauthorized actions

Roskomnadzor will fine Internet sites for involving teenagers in illegal activities.

This was reported in the press service of the department, specifying that a number of social networks were sent notifications of summons to draw up protocols on administrative offenses.

"Internet sites will be brought to administrative responsibility in connection with the dissemination of information prohibited by law and aimed at attracting minors to participate in unauthorized mass (public) events," the ministry said in a statement.

They recalled that participation in such events carries risks of harm to life and health, especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The platforms that commit the offense face fines ranging from 800 thousand to 4 million rubles.

In the event of a repeated violation, the fine will be increased to one tenth of the aggregate amount of the annual revenue.

The press service of Roskomnadzor clarified that these appeals to minors were identified in TikTok, VKontakte, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

"All social networks are monitored," the press service told RIA Novosti.

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On the eve of Roskomnadzor sent a demand to the leadership of VKontakte to stop disseminating information aimed at involving minors in illegal actions: accounts were found on social networks that were used to call on teenagers to take part in rallies unauthorized by the authorities.

The TikTok service received a similar requirement.

In turn, the Prosecutor General's Office demanded to restrict access to resources that allow the spread of such appeals.

“Persons calling for illegal actions have been warned about the inadmissibility of violating the law,” the ministry’s official Telegram channel said in a statement.

RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan drew attention to the fact that the TikTok service has all the necessary mechanisms to block calls for children to participate in an illegal action, but does not do this.

Earlier, the Internet began to publish calls from supporters of Alexei Navalny to go to uncoordinated protests on January 23.

Recall that on January 17, Navalny was detained at the Sheremetyevo airport after returning to Russia from Germany, where he was being treated at the Berlin clinic "Charite".

As explained in the Federal Penitentiary Service, the reason for the detention was Navalny's repeated violations of the probationary period assigned to him in the case of embezzlement of funds from the Yves Rocher company.

The blogger was assigned such a measure until December 29, 2020, during which time he had to appear twice a month for registration with the FSIN authorities, which he did not do.

On January 18, a judge of the Khimki city court imprisoned Alexei Navalny for 30 days.

After that, Navalny and his supporters began to spread calls to go to a rally in support of him on January 23.

It is worth noting that several years ago Navalny, also urging his supporters to take part in protest actions, promised that each detainee would be compensated by the Anti-Corruption Fund * for the fines imposed by the court.

At the same time, regional activists from Navalny's headquarters were forced to collect money on their own to pay fines by participants in protest actions, despite promises of support from Moscow.

At the same time, the Interior Ministry promised to hold accountable for calls to participate in an illegal action. 

“We have all the legal grounds for this - until the very fact of this event, bring to administrative responsibility all those who call for participation in it in person, on the Internet, by sending written appeals,” TASS quotes a statement from the first deputy head of the department, Alexander Gorovoy.

The Moscow prosecutor's office also issued a warning to social networks, where publications were identified calling for participation in protest events on January 23.

The department also issued warnings to 28 citizens calling for participation in the action.

“In order to prevent possible violations of the law during public events, 28 persons calling for participation in a public event were warned about the inadmissibility of violating the law.

We explain that both the organization of an uncoordinated public event and participation in it entail liability established by the legislation of the Russian Federation, ”explained Lyudmila Nefedova, head of the press service of the Moscow Prosecutor's Office.