United Russia MP Anton Gorelkin submitted a draft law to the State Duma that would oblige websites to inform users about the rules for the algorithms of recommendation feeds. The corresponding document is published on the website of the lower house of the parliament.
It is planned to introduce article 12.3 into the federal law «on information protection», which will be called «features of providing information using recommender technologies.»
If the resource does not inform users about the work of its recommendations, Roskomnadzor will be able to request from the owner information about the technologies used on the site, as well as access to “software and hardware tools” for their evaluation. The owner will have to provide this data to the regulator within ten days.
As Gorelkin, the author of the bill, explained earlier, the goal of the bill is “to make the mechanisms of recommendations transparent and prevent their use for illegal purposes.” If Roskomnadzor finds violations, a notification will be sent to the owner of the resource, after which they will need to be eliminated within ten days. If this does not happen, the RKN will require him to remove the recommendations from the site. If this requirement is not met, access to the resource will be restricted.
“Researchers record the facts of manipulation: both for marketing and political purposes. Psychologists diagnose nervous disorders in their patients, the cause of which is the so-called “algorithmic anxiety,” the deputy said. Gorelkin explained that resource owners will have to describe «the mechanism of recommendations and information that he collects and uses, indicating the source of their receipt.» According to him, the amendments will oblige developers to “take a more responsible approach to the use of AI technologies.”
At the same time, United Russia noted that his bill “provides a toolkit for influencing resources that, with the help of recommendations, mislead, spread fakes or otherwise violate Russian law.” In his opinion, the document will allow «to prevent algorithms from being a weapon of information warfare.»