The State Duma has adopted in the first reading a bill prohibiting the placement of advertisements on blocked websites, the lower house's website reports.
The deputies decided to add provisions to the law on advertising stating that the placement of advertisements is prohibited on the websites of «undesirable» and «extremist» organizations, as well as «other information resources, access to which is restricted in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation.»
The explanatory note directly mentions Instagram and Facebook blocked in Russia. After the start of the war Russian court recognized the Meta company, which owns both social networks, as an “extremist organization.”
“Some Russian users, by using technologies to bypass access restrictions, continue to use the information resources of Instagram and Facebook, which creates the opportunity for owners of such illegal information resources to receive income from the distribution of advertising, which in total revenue can range from 50 to 90%,” the authors of the bill give an example.
At the end of February 2024, the State Duma prohibited placing advertisements with participants in the register of “foreign agents”, as well as advertising themselves. Deputies called the target of this law Yuri Dud and other journalists declared by the Ministry of Justice as “foreign agents.”