Gaming companies in Russia may be subject to the “Spring law”, that is, oblige to store gamers’ data and the history of their correspondence. This initiative was taken by one of the centers controlled by Roskomnadzor. Experts also suggest regulating donation collection services and gaming loot boxes.This was reported by the Kommersant newspaper with reference to the study of the Main Radio Frequency Center (GRFC), which is part of the structure of Roskomnazdor.
Legal uncertainty in the field of video games is indicated as the reason for the need to regulate the industry.
The study mentions titles such as Among Us and Fortnite. According to the Center, they have actually become social networks, and therefore can have a negative impact on personal development. Experts also fear that today the games can be used “for the purposes of agitation and radicalization, the spread of terrorism and extremism.”
In addition, the GRCC considers it necessary to establish the legal status of in-game currency, loot boxes, streaming services and donations. This is due to the fact that money can allegedly be laundered through them.
Recall that the so-called “Spring package” was adopted in 2016. The law obliges telecom operators, as well as various forums, social networks and messengers to store calls, correspondence and Internet traffic. Companies falling under the law estimated the costs of its implementation at tens of billions of rubles, which also led to a partial increase in tariffs for communication services.
A similar situation may occur if similar rules are applied to the gaming industry. Vitaly Starodubov, the founder of Loudplay, believes that the developers will oppose the possible law due to the need to spend a lot of money on its implementation. In an interview with Kommersant, Maxim Fomichev, producer of Pixonic, agreed with this: “It will be easier for [Gaming companies] to completely cut off the possibility of communication than to create an infrastructure for the implementation of the “Spring law”.
So far, Roskomandzor himself has not openly supported the initiative of the GRCC, noting only the urgency of the problem and the need for discussion among legislators and entrepreneurs.
At the same time, Karen Ghazaryan, Director General of the Internet Research Institute, said that it is virtually useless to require gaming companies to keep gamers’ correspondence. According to him, in games it is impossible to calculate the author and recipient of messages by metadata or other means of identification — unlike messengers.
This year, the Russian authorities began to discuss ways to regulate the gaming industry and the IT industry much more actively. In particular, in May, the so-called “landing” law was introduced to the State Duma, which will oblige IT companies with a daily audience of 500 thousand Russian users to open their branches on the territory of the Russian Federation.