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Russian media sites have disabled the ability to comment on materials

In recent weeks, the websites of a number of large Russian socio-political media have disabled the ability to comment on materials or significantly limited it. TJournal found out what this is connected with.

When trying to leave a review under the material on the Vedomosti newspaper website, readers see a “stub”. It says that the commenting system is under reconstruction, and after its restoration only subscribers of the publication will be able to write reviews.

As a Roem.ru reader noted , the corresponding stub appeared at the beginning of this week. A few days earlier, Vedomosti limited the possibility of commenting to daytime hours on weekdays.

TJournal turned to the publisher of digital projects of Vedomosti, Jamila Iskandyarova, for comment. She explained that after the introduction of the procedure for extrajudicial blocking of sites and the sharp aggravation of public debate due to the events in Ukraine, the risks for the publishing business due to the presence of comments on the site increased sharply. Therefore, it was decided to limit the possibility of publishing reviews of materials.

Unfortunately, recently many commentators are not ready to control themselves and follow the rules of the Vedomosti forum. Jamilya Iskandyarova, publisher of the Vedomosti website

According to Iskandyarova, although only subscribers of the Vedomosti website will be able to write in the new commenting system, this opportunity will be their privilege and not part of a paid service. Consequently, the principle of the relationship between users and the forum moderator will not change: entries that violate the established rules will be deleted, and their authors will receive warnings and be blocked.

Those who persistently do not want to comply with the rules and the law will be deprived of the opportunity to write on our site, regardless of the fact of paying for a subscription. Jamilya Iskandyarova, publisher of the Vedomosti website

Vedomosti is not the only Russian media outlet that, against the backdrop of recent events, has introduced restrictions on commenting on materials. such a step . took At the beginning of March , Lenta.ru, the largest online publication on the Runet,

Lenta.ru explained that comments were closed due to events in Russia and Ukraine. Galina Timchenko, who then held the post of editor-in-chief of the publication, explained on her Facebook that in the current situation, the forum on the site would “contribute to whipping up hysteria and mutual hatred,” so she decided to temporarily shut it down herself.

At the time of writing, comments on Lenta.ru were already working.

The ability to leave reviews for materials is still disabled on the website of another popular publication, Gazeta.ru. Directly below the articles there is a gray box explaining this decision.

The situation is similar on the website of the Russian Forbes.

Slon.ru also introduced a partial restriction on commenting on materials. As the publication's editor-in-chief Andrei Goryanov explained to TJournal, this was done primarily due to the increased activity of spammers. However, the increased intensity of discussions also played a role, he noted.

The mechanism for instantly blocking sites has been working on the RuNet since February. By law, the Prosecutor General can, through Roskomnadzor, oblige Internet providers to close access to a resource that contains calls for extremism or participation in uncoordinated mass actions.

In practice, this law was used to block Alexei Navalny’s blog - this was explained by the fact that the oppositionist was under house arrest, which means he did not have the right to go online. Officially, Navalny’s social media accounts are managed by his wife Yulia and employees of his Anti-Corruption Foundation.

Along with Navalny’s blog, the websites of several opposition publications were also blocked: Grani, ej.ru, Kasparov.ru and Ekho Moskvy.

Previously, Roskomnadzor has repeatedly asserted that the editors of publications are responsible for all content posted on their pages, including user comments.

True, in the latter case, applies a more lenient procedure : the department first contacts the media with a demand to remove a review that violates the law (for example, containing obscene language), and only after ignoring this requirement issues a warning to the publication.

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