"Content marked as 18+ should only be accessible to Russian users after verification through a passport"
Along British Paths.
Yevgeny Masharov
Member of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation's Commission on Public Examination of Bills and Other Regulatory Acts, Yevgeny Masharov, in a conversation with RIA, stated the necessity of implementing online identification by passport in Russia.
In his view, due to unlimited access to 18+ content of various kinds (from offensive language to the promotion of antisocial behavior), the younger generation is losing cultural benchmarks.
"What can be done to counter this, to correct the situation, to stabilize the psychological state of still developing minds — is to stipulate that 18+ content should only be accessible to Russian users after passport, driver's license, or banking data verification," stated Masharov.
Regarding access to games labeled 18+ only after providing personal data, the official did not specify, however, at a minimum, he could have anticipated it. Drafting and passing the corresponding law will lead to the requirement of a passport for purchasing such games as Atomic Heart or No, I’m not a Human.
This summer, a similar provision came into effect in the United Kingdom — the Online Safety Act. It mandated websites, search engines, social networks, and applications that may contain "adult" content to implement an age verification system.