Other popular films and TV series may also fall under a new set of laws targeting the promotion of childfree ideology
Russia’s new laws against the promotion of illegal “childfree” ideology could potentially target popular films and TV series like ‘Harry Potter’ and “Game of Thrones’, the Parliamentary Newspaper claimed on Monday.
Last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a bill prohibiting the promotion of childlessness and aimed at preventing the dissemination of materials that encourage the rejection of parenthood through the media, films, advertising and online. Content found to violate these rules can be blocked and those who publish it may face fines up to 400,000 rubles ($5,000) for individuals and up to 5 million rubles ($62,000) for officials and legal entities.
Russia’s Ministry of Culture and media watchdog Roskomnadzor has now introduced its own definition of what content could be considered to be in violation of the legislation. The criteria are set to come into force in September.
According to the Parliamentary Newspaper, the register of prohibited information will include content that “encourages or justifies the refusal to have children,” demonstrates a “negative image” of pregnancy and parenthood, or forms “distorted ideas” about the advantages of refusing to have kids.
The outlet has suggested that a number of popular movies and TV shows could potentially fall under these criteria if regulators dig deep enough to find representations of childfree ideology.
For example, the newspaper suggested that the Harry Potter franchise could end up being banned due to the character of Professor McGonagall who was not shown to have children in the films.
Another candidate is ‘Game of Thrones’, where the character of Brienne had chosen to become a knight instead of being a mother. The popular series ‘Sex and the City’ could also be on the chopping block because the character of Samatha demonstrates “obvious childree tendencies,” according to the Parliamentary Newspaper. The same could supposedly be said for Claire from the ‘House of Cards’ TV Show, who put her career first and showed no regret over not having children.
However, Roskomnadzor officials have told the outlet that the decision to block content would be carried out on an individual basis and said that the watchdog’s experts have not yet conducted any such examinations.
The regulator later released a statement saying it has no plans to ban either Harry Potter or Game of Thrones over childfree propaganda concerns.
Russia’s Ministry of Culture has also responded to the Parliamentary Newspaper article by pointing out that the aforementioned films and series have already lost their distribution certificates due to the departure of their copyright holders from the country. It also clarified that the ministry does not have the power to block content on the internet.
The Harry Potter franchise has been massively popular in Russia, having sold millions of books and grossed over $50 million in theaters over the years. However, the films and novels have been absent from official digital and physical stores in the country since 2022 when most Western media companies pulled their licenses over the escalation of the Ukraine conflict.
