The proposed regulation targets online content perceived as “encouraging the attractiveness of non-traditional sexual relations,” “creating a distorted notion of the social equivalence of traditional and non-traditional sexual relations,” and “forming a positive attitude toward changing a person’s biological sex.”
Sites or platforms that fail to remove harmful content run the danger of being blocked by the government and fined up to $81,000.
Natalia Zviagina, Amnesty International’s Russia Director, stated, “This blatant censorship demonstrates that the Russian authorities are completely out of touch with human rights and are willing to violate the right to freedom of expression.”
“Disguised as ‘protecting traditional values,’ this outrageous action will not only further stigmatize millions of LGBTI+ people, but it will also expose them to increasing discrimination, stigma, hostility, and violent acts,” Zviagina stated.
Beyoncé has been accused of LGBTIQ+ hypocrisy about her Dubai concert.
According to the newspaper Vedomosti, internet streaming sites have already banned Oscar-winning films and television programs such as Brokeback Mountain and Call Me by Your Name, The Sex Lives of College Girls, and multiple episodes of the British television drama This Is Going to Hurt.
The anti-LGBTQ bill voted by Russian legislators at the end of 2017 expanded the 2013 “gay propaganda” law designed to “protect” children to include a blanket prohibition on LGBTI public information or activities for all Russians.
The government has utilized the 2013 law to suppress pro-LGBTQ activities and to shut down organizations and online media.
In 2018, the United Nations Human Rights Committee deemed the rule “ambiguous, disproportionate, and discriminatory” and condemned “a blanket restriction on legitimate expressions of sexual orientation.”
Zviagina stated, “This censorship directive, as well as the anti-LGBT law itself, must be repealed immediately.” “It is time for Russia to stop promoting and endorsing discrimination against LGBTI individuals and to recognize and protect their human rights.”
»Russia will prohibit LGBTI+ content on streaming services«