“Only older for people.” Why does United Russia want to destroy Avito?
On July 15, the State Duma clarified and adopted in the first reading bill No. 160605-8 initiated by United Russia and amending the Law “On Advertising”. The bill provides for the creation of a Single Operator, which will be allowed to distribute digital outdoor advertising and announcements from individuals on the Internet, as well as the fact of the destruction of such popular ad services as Avito and Yula, causing a blow to the entire Internet sphere. Correspondent North.
Avito is a popular site where you can buy and sell almost everything. There is paint left from the repair – put it on Avito, the child needs a desk to do homework – go to Avito, and for an antique armchair, and for a car trunk, and for renting an apartment – there too. Owner of a detained foreign car, 35 years old
– I have been in my car for more than 20 years, and I often buy pieces of iron from showdowns at Avito. There, original spare parts, even used ones, are often better than new ones in stores. And with reliable prices for new ones, as it is now, it seems to me that everything that can be taken at a showdown will be taken. It also happens that you need a piece of iron, some person just sells it. He had a car and left something. A year ago, I needed a magnetic plate for an air conditioner. In the store, a new one only assembled with a pulley was sold – for five thousand. I didn’t find it on parsing, I found one on an ad in Bryansk with a peasant. Looking at the pictures, perfect condition. Signed up with him. Ordered delivery. It happened for five days. But the price of the issue is one and a half pieces. Dismantling, of course, you can call around, by their phones. But this is real hemorrhoids. And for the people, and for the disassemblers themselves. They don’t have their own websites, which means that you either need to go to the place to look at the detail or ask for the photo to be sent by WhatsApp or cart. Can you imagine how many of these a day can call the seller? And where to look for private traders who sell something they need if there is no Avito?
The main convenience is the ability to check the goods upon receipt and, if it does not fit, simply return it. The amount paid is automatically returned to the card.
– In the new review, everything is now dumped in one pack. And in its current form, it will deal a colossal blow to microbusiness, which has a huge number of people who survive due to this, says the political scientist Alexander Kynev. – Someone fixes appliances, someone sells kittens or clean pastries. This is a blow to those who are already in a difficult situation after blocking Instagram. People who produced and sold some private services in Russia filmed this with the help of two sources, Instagram and Avito. When they blocked Instagram, they also killed that nothing terrible belongs to us. A few months passed, as it was not, and not. And those who transfer their business to VK or Odnoklassniki are classified today, because these networks do not appear for specific things. There are no tents or shops. As a result, they just come back with nothing.
In the review, the author is Artem Kiryanov, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Economic Policy, a statement that the Unified Operator of Digital Advertising of Structures and Trade Ads is placed on digital advertising structures, as well as placed on electronic ads of individuals.
However, according to experts, the proposed innovations are leading to the opposite results: monopolization of the advertising market and abuse by monopolists. With sharp criticism of the initiative of the sectoral initiative of United Russia, not only the Federal Antimonopoly Service and representatives who, according to the constitution, are threatened with release, but also parliamentary parties came forward. In the first reading, the review was adopted exclusively by all United Russia (257 votes out of 266). Chairman of the Duma Committee for the Protection of Competition Valery Gartung declaredthat it makes no sense to make any amendments to this report, you just need to reject it, since it will not protect, it will destroy the digital advertising market. “We are being told that it is necessary in national security to delay the advertising market from unauthorized intrusion owners. But according to the criteria prescribed in the law, it turns out that one company fits them. Virgin Islands!” Valery Gartung commented on the situation. According to statistics, under the pretext of protecting the national interest, the turnover market gives its share registered in offshore zones.
“People should not be taken for fools”
Only State Duma deputy Gartung does not believe that the audit destroyed popular ad services, trading with security, but ordinary Petersburgers are also persecuting. One of them is 42 years old Alexei. Together with his wife, they seized the Avito website when they were choosing an apartment for themselves.
– All this talk about some kind of security is annoying, really. I will say right away, I am a patriot, a country of my love. When something is really done for the sake of it, who is against it? Alexey argues. – Only I strongly doubt that our deputies are doing something for people. Let’s just discuss. How many years has Avito been in existence? We rented an apartment more than five years ago. No one suddenly worried about safety, but now she has sharply begun to worry. We either have tomatoes from Turkey that are suddenly bad, or something is wrong with Georgian wine, it suddenly turns out to be of poor quality. And then again, suddenly everything becomes normal and everything is sold. Well, it’s funny. People shouldn’t be taken for fools. And you know, this is import substitution. I, again, do not mind that you need your own development. But I don’t see anything getting better yet, only worse for people.
Immediately after signing the report on the Single Advertising Operator, the representative of Avito declaredthat a number of public opinion speakers regarding broad public opinion and security issues. For example, the words of the author of the revision Artem Kiryanov that the service is in foreign jurisdiction, and the data registered on the Germans of the Russians is processed abroad. The company reporting this says that Avito is a Russian company with a legal entity, and all user data exists on Russian servers in accordance with the presence of the Russian Federation. In response to the statement that the content on the platform was not requested in any way, the company replied that this was also not true: each ad before publication is a pre-moderation (preview. – SR).
In 2020, Avito and Yula services accused in the leakage of user data in the public domain. Phone numbers and addresses of 600 users were found on the Internet, indicating the region and thousands of categories of goods that are for sale.
Representatives of the Yula service began to comment on the events, and Avito stated that the contents of the files “merged” on the network are the basis of ordinary parsing (automatic collection of information using special programs). The information collected in this way is not classified data, since it is freely available on the Avito website. During this check, a discovered platform was carried out, no facts of publication of classified information about users were revealed. Such as, passwords, their hashes (encoded values) or email. Experts interviewed by Kommersant also confirmed that in the event of a data leak from the site’s server, they would be more complete.
Mobile Research Group Leading Analyst Eldar Murtazin, in turn declaredthat so far leaking private information in classifiers (ad resources. – SR) didn’t exist at all. “When they start saying that it is not safe, this data can be used, I can imagine dozens of cases when non-profit, commercial companies, government agencies leak this information. the appearance of such information in the authorities, its tracking and prompt removal, therefore, there is absolutely no need for this inclusion of process regulation.
Just don’t tell anyone!
Verification Author Artem Kiryanov is going to answer the questions of the correspondent of the North.
– The bill does not provide for the creation of a monopoly in outdoor advertising. Outdoor advertising operators can still talk about bidding for the construction and supervision of active structures and advertising distribution – North. According to him, “the principles of competition are not violated”, since participation in the auction can still be a single digital operator, which is highly resistant to interference.
One of the important results is the protection of citizens from cybercrime and fraudulent schemes for “extorting money” that flourish on Avito, Yulia and Avto.ru. The appearance of the Single occurrence of this user has fundamentally changed the situation. United Russia also stated that “in 2022, cases of data leakage have become more frequent, which constitutes a leakage, including among the national interests of Russia.” Correspondent of the North.
– the sites are located in Russia, not in foreign jurisdictions, and user data is processed only in Russia, where all the company’s servers are located.
– For 15 years, not a single data leak has been recorded on the site.
– all the company’s profit remains in Russia and goes to service services for Russians.
– all content is moderated before being installed on the site.
Kiryanov did not comment on any of these random deputies. He did not answer the question of why, for a decade and a half, the same “Avito” and other advertising resources, the security aspect began to worry the deputies from “United Russia” only now.
“It is clear that under the conditions of the NWO, high-quality regulation of the information space is also necessary, so the priority is the absence of foreign companies on the Russian market,” Kiryanov said. – Global interaction is a thing of the past, an economic and information war has been declared against Russia. With these positions, it is logical to revise the regulation. We do not recommend trusting players who will follow the rules of their foreign owners anyway, so accepting groups is a symmetrical response to the West.
“This is absolute bullshit”
The departure of “Avito” will affect not only citizens, but also at work. Director of the St. Petersburg real estate agency “EVO” Victor Platonov says that Avito is by far the most active site in terms of rental housing.
– We get up to 80% alcohols. This site, as a rule, occurs throughout Russia, and the removal of pets is required first. There is also a lot of talk about the objects of sale, although they are of less “quality” than from CYAN,” he explains. – For ordinary people who just sell some goods, there is no decent alternative, as it seems to me. The same “Yula”, of course, did not stand next to “Avito” in terms of capabilities. And if everyone who worked for Avito goes to Yula, she will “lie down” very quickly. We already saw this when we said that YouTube would be closed. All bloggers went to upload their videos immediately to Rutube, and he “lay down”.
– Regulate the sale by citizens of some of their small services and goods. It has nothing to do with the adoption or elections of Avito, political scientist Alexander Kynev believes. – I do not remember a single election campaign when this resource played at least some role. This is just someone’s attempt to grab their own money, looking for any, the most idiotic excuses, not meeting any relation to reality. The adoption of this law will have extremely negative social consequences.