A bill that aims to further undermine operators of restricted platforms including Meta, Instagram, and X will have a much wider effect when it's expected to come into force in September. The amendments ban the placement of advertising on any blocked site in Russia, regardless of reason. Submitted in 2024, the bill will affect thousands of pirate sites and Russia's rapidly growing influencer market.

If people insist that most things on the internet must remain ‘free’, the mechanisms that allow that to happen must continue too.

Invariably that means more advertising alongside diminishing privacy, at least for those lucky enough to still have any left. Yet life could still be a lot worse, oddly enough by restrictions on advertising designed to hurt certain platforms while ensuring people are unable to profit from them.

Blocking Pirates, Blocking Extremists

For close to a decade-and-a-half, Russian ISPs have been required to block tens of thousands of pirate sites. It’s highly unlikely the work will end anytime soon, or anytime at all, especially since site-blocking is supported by almost constant legal amendments that continuously expand justification for blocking on all kinds of grounds.

Prominent examples can be found in Facebook and Instagram. Since sites linked to terrorists or extremists are prime targets for blocking, Russia labeled parent company Meta an extremist organization in 2022 and then blocked it using the same mechanisms deployed against pirate sites. In common with all blocking in Russia, blocking is not 100% effective, meaning that pirate and other blocked sites can be accessed without too much difficulty.

The same goes for Facebook and Instagram, but the stakes are significantly higher when banned social media platforms enter the equation. Figures released by telecoms watchdog Roskomnadzor late March claimed that between 2022 and 2024, Russians spent 13.6 billion rubles (US$161 million) advertising on banned sites.

Loved by Russia’s influencers, Instagram generated the most revenue (US$111.95m) followed by Elon Musk’s X (US$26.03m), and Facebook (US$23.91m).

Banning Advertising

With regular companies, entrepreneurs, influencers, and bloggers using banned VPNs to circumvent state blocking, something had to give. Russia frames this as “funding foreign extremist groups” using Russian money. The accused most likely see things differently; they’re working and putting food on the table, but how long that can continue is up for debate.

On March 25, the State Duma adopted amendments to federal laws “On Combating Extremist Activity” and “On Advertising.” The amendments introduce a ban on advertising on any platform designated as prohibited in Russia; i.e any sites blocked or restricted in Russia for any reason are affected by the same ban. An announcement on the website of the State Duma clarifies as follows:

The law establishes a ban on the distribution of advertising on the information resources of foreign or international organizations whose activities are recognized as undesirable on the territory of Russia, public or religious associations or other organizations in respect of which a court has made a decision that has entered into legal force on liquidation or prohibition, as well as on resources access to which is restricted in accordance with the law.

“Despite the fact that a number of social networks have been blocked in Russia, whose owners pursue an openly unfriendly policy towards our country, disseminate deliberately false information and values ​​alien to us, citizens and companies continue to use them to advertise their goods and services,” says State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin.

“Sometimes, without even thinking, they transfer money to those who deliberately harm our country.”

Penalties for Non-Compliance

Posting on Telegram, Russian attorney Ekaterina Abashina predicts the likely scale of the fines for non-compliance and warns that any existing campaigns should be shut down before it’s too late.

“Special fines for advertising on the other side of the block have not yet been introduced, so the general penalty for violating the basic requirements for advertising will be in effect – up to 500,000 rubles [US$5,900] (for legal entities) and up to 2,500 rubles [US$30.00] for individuals,” Abashina notes.

“From the non-obvious : after September 1, a fine may also fly for old advertising placements that continue being placed, so you can start auditing your ads now.”

How and when the authorities will choose to enforce their new powers remains to be seen. It seems unlikely that the thousands of pirate sites currently blocked will face any specific action, but if any stray beyond movies and TV shows into the political arena, that might not be especially smart under the circumstances.