⚖️ Destructive Content May Be Classified as Extremist
The Russian State Duma is considering amendments that could equate destructive content with extremist materials. The initiative is being prepared by Andrey Svintsov, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, with the aim of “cleaning the internet of dirt, fakes, and bot-generated content.”
Destructive content would be automatically blocked by Roskomnadzor. Distributors would face the same administrative and criminal liabilities as those applied to extremist content.
The proposals may be submitted to the State Duma before the end of the year.
“Destructive content” refers to materials that provoke dangerous behavior (suicide, violence, drug propaganda, etc.).
Lawyers warn that the vagueness of the definition poses a risk to freedom of speech. Experts fear that strict filtering may push content to migrate into closed chats.
Roskomnadzor reported that in the first 10 months of 2025, it removed almost twice as much destructive content as during the same period the previous year.
