The law on restrictions for news aggregators in Russia has passed first reading in Russian state duma. The amendments are to be made till the end of this year. The Russian IT company Yandex, operator and owner of service Yandex.News, and Russian ministry of communication (MinCom) did not like the draft law. Both believe the law provides excessive regulation.
Yandex underlines that the aggregator provides news from registered mass media. Such media are responsible for information and news they provide under Russian law. The foreign influence on Russian mass media has been already restricted under Russian law the Yandex wrote in its opinion to the draft law. The aggregators do not make news content; they only facilitate its dissemination. Yandex believes the new law would damage Russian IT companies, and put them in the worst position in comparison with foreign competitors.
Draft law can entail significant financial hardships or even cessation of activity Yandex points. Yandex also underlined that the news aggregators are interested in funding from overseas sources and place their shares on international stock exchanges, the draft law would preclude it. Yandex believes the proposed draft law does not provide informational security for Russian state, but unreasonably impose restrictions on activity of Russian companies.