The State Duma Commission on Foreign Interference discussed with TikTok representatives company’s activities in Russia
The Commission proposed to assist the social network in clarifying norms of Russian legislation for effective content moderation
Meeting of the Commission on the Investigation of Foreign Interference in Russia's Internal Affairs was held at the State Duma on Friday, April 9. Parliamentarians discussed TikTok activities in Russia. TikTok representatives Director of Public Policy Helena Lersch and head of product and process in Europe Kevin Morgan took part in the meeting via videoconference.
The Chairman of the Commission Vasilii Piskarev
Vasily Ivanovich
recalled that TikTok had previously violated the procedure of restriction of access to prohibited information.
“TikTok and some other foreign Internet resources for quite a long time have been demonstrating prohibited content in our country, including calls for teenagers to participate in unauthorized actions in Moscow and other Russian cities in January 2021, calls for violence and confrontation with law enforcement officers, calls for defamation of state symbols,” he said.
Vasilii Piskarev also stressed that TikTok had become “a leader” in disseminating destructive messages to minors. “And there were so many messages incited children to commit suicide and that outraged our citizens,” added the parliamentarian.
According to him, that prohibited content had already been deleted by representatives of the social network, but “most of the materials had been deleting within a few days and that helped the creators of the manipulating content to achieve the planned mass effect.”
In this regard, members of the Commission discussed with TikTok representatives how to prevent repetition of such activities in the future, and how to improve functioning of social networks in Russia.
Members of the Commission proposed to provide methodological assistance in clarifying the norms of the current Russian legislation to those who moderate content in TikTok for Russian users.
“That would significantly enhance guarantees of the rights of Russian users. That also would be good for TikTok, as its mission is “to inspire creativity and bring joy,” said the Chairman of the Commission.
“The dialogue was very constructive. They are ready to cooperate, because not only electronic technologies can find [illegal] content, but also real people are involved in that process and they may not know our legislation,” said Vasilii Piskarev after the meeting. According to him, the Commission will continue to monitor not only TikTok, but also other social networks.
The TikTok management proposed to establish permanent cooperation with the State Duma Commission and to join efforts to identify illegal content and react to violations, as the parliamentarian said. “We are open to any networks, if they do not violate our legislation,” concluded Vasilii Piskarev.
