Putin’s new law blackballs any flick not making Russia look great again
Russian President Vladimir Putin has escalated cancel culture to a new extreme.
A legislative ban he signed took effect on March 1, targeting films that “discredit Russia’s traditional spiritual and moral values,” according to The Moscow Times.
Even before the law came into force, Russian authorities had already blacklisted a number of major U.S. films, including “Barbie,” “Oppenheimer,” “Jojo Rabbit,” “The Interview,” and “Borat,” reported Metro. Films deemed “unworthy” by the Kremlin include those portraying LGBTQ+ relationships, promoting a “child-free” lifestyle, or criticizing government authorities.
The consequences for violating the ban are severe. Theater owners who screen films flagged by officials face fines and other penalties. Once the state watchdog Roskomnadzor — Russia’s Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology, and Mass Media — identifies a problematic film, theaters and streaming platforms have 24 hours to remove it or face escalating fines.
Under the legislation, fines can reach $200 for individuals, $20,000 for officials, and $10,400 for legal entities. Repeat violations carry stiffer penalties: individuals may face up to $3,150, officials up to $8,400, and legal entities up to $52,500. Roskomnadzor enforces compliance, with cases heard in district courts.
The law is part of a broader effort to tighten state control over culture and media since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. That same year, legislation banned LGBTQ+ “propaganda” in public and on screen, leading to the banning of films such as “Brokeback Mountain.”
“LGBT today is an element of hybrid warfare, and in this hybrid warfare we must protect our values, our society, and our children,” said senior legislator Alexander Khinshtein.
State-controlled Gazprom Media Holding reported spending “several hundred million rubles” developing an automated system to scan video content for potential violations of the Kremlin’s definition of “traditional values.” According to the Memorial Human Rights Defence Center, the new ban will greatly expand the list of films subject to censorship.
Films depicting Russians or people of Russian descent as anything other than morally exemplary, or portraying them as antagonists, criminals, or flawed individuals, also face censorship under a 2022 presidential decree.
When television shows are not banned outright, English-to-Russian dubbing is often altered to match official narratives. For example, the CBS comedy series “Ghosts” had references to a gay couple’s marriage changed to a “friendship alliance,” with the marriage episode removed entirely, according to The New York Times.
Censorship has a long history in Russia. Author Fyodor Dostoevsky was arrested in 1849 for participating in a “radical” intellectual group and spent four years in a Siberian prison camp after a mock execution.
For filmmakers today, the message from Moscow is clear: the script may belong to the artist, but the final cut belongs to the state.
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