Russian experts claim that the “landing” of IT giants is a part of the world trend

Vadim Glushchenko, Director of the Center for Global IT-Cooperation, assessed the prospects of the Russian law on the “landing” of IT giants. In a conversation with Lenta.ru, he called this initiative part of a global trend, listed its advantages and spoke about foreign practices to combat the spread of prohibited content on the Internet.

According to Glushchenko, today there are no effective mechanisms for resolving disputes between the state and global digital platforms. That is why the regulation of the activities of transnational IT companies has become an urgent problem for many countries. The expert added that states have to not only fight the spread of illegal content, but also defend their own digital sovereignty.

“The landing of global digital platforms is also part of the global trend, since it creates conditions both for ensuring that platforms comply with national legislation and for building equal relations with them,” Glushchenko said. He added that in different countries of the world two main approaches are used to work with IT giants: either opening a branch or representative office or interacting with local companies through representatives with agency powers. Similar laws are already in force in Austria, Germany, Italy, Turkey and France.

Glushchenko also estimated how the implementation of the initiative to “land” foreign IT companies in Russia will affect their compliance with domestic legislation. The director of the Center for Global IT-Cooperation believes that the upcoming project will be useful not only for the state, but also for the FAAMG (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Google).

“As you know, the Russian market is an important area for foreign digital platforms, and compliance with our laws is not only a necessary condition for continuing to work in Russia, but also a sign of good manners and high business reputation, as well as opportunities for development and successful business. As the experience of countries such as Australia and Turkey show, IT companies are ready to follow the requirements of the official authorities in order to maintain commercial benefits. Profit is never superfluous,” concluded an expert interviewed by Lenta.ru.

In mid-August, the Faculty of Law of the National Research University Higher School of Economics and Center for Global IT-Cooperation prepared a report in which they spoke about the strengthening of regulation of the digital environment in the world. They noted the emergence of a new trend towards the gradual transfer of traditional law to the digital environment.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the law on the "landing" of IT giants in the country on July 1. According to the new project, the owners of Internet platforms with a daily audience of over half a million users from Russia will be required to establish legal entities or open local offices in the country from January 1, 2022.

https://lenta.ru/news/2021/08/19/tend/