Russian telecommunications regulator Roskomnadzor will be able to block Internet resources that refuse to turn off recommendations in cases where violations are revealed when using them.
A bill on the regulation of recommendations displayed to Internet users has been submitted to the State Duma. The document stipulates the requirement for services to disclose the algorithms of such recommendations and to disable them if violations are identified, and also provides for the blocking of sites that do not eliminate them. The bill has been placed in the system of legislative activities. Its author is the deputy chairman of the Duma Committee on Information Policy Anton Gorelkin.
The bill imposes the obligation on the owners of network resources to inform users about the use of recommendation technologies, according to the explanatory note. Their description and rules of application will have to be placed on the site.
If violations in the use of recommendations are identified, Roskomnadzor will have the right to request information on their use and access to the relevant software. Site owners will be required to submit such information within 10 business days.
If violations are not corrected after notification of the regulator, Roskomnadzor will be able to require disconnection of the recommendations, and if it is not done, it will be possible to block the site until the relevant requirement is met, according to an explanatory note. Duma deputy Anton Gorelkin calls the main goal of his bill the need to "make the mechanisms of recommendations transparent and prevent their use for illegal purposes.
Citing "researchers," he reports facts of manipulation for marketing and political purposes in the "uncontrolled use of recommendation algorithms," as well as cases of nervous breakdowns in users due to so-called "algorithmic anxiety.”
The powers, including the possibility of blocking websites, the bill gives to Roskomnadzor would allow it to influence resources that with the help of recommendations "mislead, spread fakes" or violate the law in other ways, the deputy said.
According to him, during the development of the bill meetings with IT-companies were held, their opinions and wishes were collected. The document was also approved by the government, the deputy said.
As RBC notes, the previous version of the bill led to criticism of online retailers. Artem Sokolov, the head of the Association of Internet Trading Companies (AKIT), pointed out that if the document is adopted in this form, it will throw the online commerce market into the past.
"Without recommendation algorithms online stores will turn into catalogs, which were used 20 years ago,"
Sokolov said, estimating potential losses of the industry in case of introduction of regulation in 100 billion rubles annually.
Source: RBC
