Large foreign IT companies will be obliged to open branches in Russia
State Duma deputy Alexander Khinshtein is going to introduce a bill on “landing” in the near future. It proposes to oblige IT companies with a daily audience of 500 thousand Russians to open official representative offices in Russia.
Recall that Khinstein heads the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Information Technology and Communications. The bill was developed at the site of this committee.
According to Khinstein, large IT companies “abuse their monopoly position by violating the requirements of our legislation.” For example, they can spread dangerous information about child pornography, suicide, drugs, as well as promote terrorism and extremism.
The law on “landing” will allow the Russian authorities to punish unscrupulous IT giants, the deputy believes.
The refusal of companies to open representative offices in Russia will lead to:
- informing users of the company’s website about violations of Russian legislation;
- a ban on the distribution of advertising both about the site and on it itself;
- the ban on making payments to the website address;
- prohibition of the collection and cross-border transfer of personal data.
Khinstein claims that the law will not affect Russian users in any way and will not prevent them from working with websites. However, at the same time, he will use economic motives to force IT companies to comply with the requirements of the Russian authorities.
As an example, Khinstein cited Turkey, where a similar law has already been adopted.
It is still unknown when exactly the bill will be submitted to the State Duma for consideration. But according to the deputy, it will take place in the very near future.
