PM orders ministries to tackle Russian-language websites in Ukraine
Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko, in response to a petition, has instructed the Ministry of Culture, together with the Ministry of Digital Transformation and the Ministry of Justice, to further work on the issue of banning Russian-language versions of websites in Ukraine.
"The law provides for the mandatory presence of a version of the website in Ukrainian, and the existence of other language versions is the right, not the obligation, of the entities specified in it. The law does not establish the need for the existence of versions of websites in Russian," Svyrydenko’s response to the petition states.
It is emphasized that today the legal prerequisites have been created to ensure the rights of Ukrainian citizens to receive information in the state language, in particular on websites.
"At the same time, the formation of a full-fledged Ukrainian-language information environment on the Internet requires further systematic work, taking into account the peculiarities of the functioning of digital platforms and search services," she added.
In her opinion, despite the gradual refusal of the owners of individual websites to support Russian-language versions, the relevance of the issue raised in the petition is growing.
"In particular, in connection with the introduction of artificial intelligence technologies into the work of search engine algorithms, which to some extent leads to the formation of a trend towards offering Russian-language versions of websites in Ukraine and, as a result, the Russification of the Ukrainian Internet space," the Prime Minister noted.
In this regard, she instructed the Ministry of Culture, together with the Ministry of Digital and Justice, to further work on the issue indicated in the petition.
As reported, on December 10, a petition on the website of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine calling for a ban on Russian-language versions of websites in Ukraine gained the necessary number of votes for consideration. The author of the petition believes that the Russian-language version of Ukrainian websites is a colonial vestige and a threat to the information security of Ukraine, and its presence contributes to the preservation and spread of Russian information influence. In view of this, he demands that the government submit for consideration to the Verkhovna Rada a bill that would provide for a complete ban on the creation and operation of Russian-language versions of websites in Ukraine. He also demands that the responsibility for website owners and administrators for violating this requirement be legally fixed (fines, blocking of the resource until the violation is eliminated).
Commissioner for the Protection of the State Language Olena Ivanovska believes that the proposal to ban Russian-language versions of websites is a symptom of the deep pain of Ukrainians, but there is currently no legal instrument to deny it.
According to the law "On ensuring the functioning of the Ukrainian language as the state language", Internet representations (including websites, web pages in social networks) of state authorities, local governments, enterprises, institutions and organizations of state and municipal ownership, media registered in Ukraine, as well as business entities selling goods and services in Ukraine and registered in Ukraine, are carried out in the state language.
At the same time, it is noted that along with the version of the site in the state language, there may be versions in other languages, and the Ukrainian-language version must have no less information in terms of volume and content than the foreign-language versions, and be downloaded by default for users in Ukraine.
