Social networks VKontakte and Odnoklassniki will be included in the list of free socially significant information resources. This was reported to Izvestia on Thursday, December 30, by a source close to the government apparatus.
He confirmed the criteria by which the list would be compiled. So, in the test list, which is published on the website of the Ministry of Digital Science, there are currently 391 services, but the vast majority of commercial companies will disappear from it. Nevertheless, the domestic social networks VKontakte and Odnoklassniki will be included in it, the source said.
He explained that the state actually approved the rules for maintaining the list in order to support Russian players in this market, to allow them to “retain their audience and attract traffic primarily to mobile devices.” It is planned that this will be achieved, in particular, through free communications – through messengers built into social networks.
According to the forecast of the Izvestia source, Russians may have free access to social networks and other services from the list as early as the first quarter of 2022. A special option “Available Internet” will appear in the personal accounts of telecom operators, by activating which the subscriber will be able to use the resources from the list, he explains. But in order to use the option, the subscriber must be registered with the “State Services”, the source said.
According to the general director of TelecomDaily Denis Kuskov, the inclusion of VKontakte and Odnoklassniki in the list of socially significant resources can become an effective support measure for Russian players in this market segment and increase their traffic. The state is interested in their development – it is much easier to protect users of VKontakte and Odnoklassniki from toxic and prohibited information in the Russian Federation than in the case of Western social networks, the expert said. And in general, building a dialogue with domestic social networks is easier than with foreign ones, he adds.
Earlier on December 30, the head of the Russian government approved the composition of the government commission to determine the list of free socially significant information resources and the rules for its maintenance. Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko, who is in charge of issues of state policy in the field of mass communications and the media, was appointed head of the commission. It includes the heads of telecommunications and IT companies, media holdings, TV channels, as well as representatives of federal authorities.
The federal law on the provision of free access to Russian socially significant Internet services was adopted in August 2021 as a result of a pilot project. For the experiment, about 400 online resources were selected, including Internet search engines, websites of authorities, museums and cultural institutions, as well as a number of TV channels and print publications. Now the government has completed the formation of a regulatory framework for the full-scale implementation of the presidential initiative on free access to socially significant Internet resources.
Source: IZ
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
