The State Duma adopted a bill on "landing". Then — for the signature of the Federation Council and the President

In the final third reading, the State Duma of Russia adopted the so-called “landing” bill. As soon as it comes into force, all foreign IT companies whose daily audience in Russia is more than 500 thousand people will be required to have an official representative office in the country.

According to Alexander Khinshtein, who proposed the law, such practice will contribute to the establishment of a clear and understandable mechanism of interaction between IT companies and the Russian state, which seeks to exclude the possibility of non-fulfillment by services of any requirements from the law.

By the way, the size of the audience is not the only criterion that the executive power will focus on when demanding to launch a Russian office. In addition, she will see if the company satisfies any of the following points:

• the service provides information in Russian, the languages of the republics of the Russian Federation and other languages of the peoples of the Russian Federation;
• advertising aimed at attracting the attention of consumers located in Russia is distributed on the service;
• processing of information about users located in the territory of the Russian Federation is carried out;
• there are cash receipts from Russian individuals and legal entities.

If there is an audience of half a million Russians and, for example, their data is being processed, then in this case the company will be obliged to acquire a local branch.

It is also important: the law will affect not only services and information resources, but also, for example, providers, advertising operators and, possibly, developers of games popular in Russia (although the latter is unlikely, to dial a DAU of 500 thousand exclusively in our region is a fantastic story).

Most likely, the law will primarily affect companies that operate the main high-tech platforms: Apple, Google, Facebook, TikTok, Steam.

It is not yet known when exactly the law will come into force. Certainty will appear after the order on its adoption is signed by the president. This will happen immediately after the document is discussed in the Federation Council.