The detention of blogger Elena Blinovskaya has reignited a discussion about the responsibility of opinion leaders with a multi-million audience to influence those who trust them. In addition, the media space is actively speculating about the reasons for the growing state attention to representatives of the blogging community. How journalists, politicians and public figures reacted to Blinovskaya’s detention – in Russian media material (author’s spelling and punctuation preserved).
Journalist Ksenia Sobchak : “Mitroshin, Lerchik, and now the queen bee herself is Elena Blinovskaya. There is an opinion that all of this, in fact, is done to force those obvious insta-crowbars to be pro-Kremlin by 2024. Create a problem – then solve it heroically, as usual. Links in the same chain, our future main propaganda base.
Responsible for the Safe Internet League Ekaterina Mizulina “We warned that it would be so. <…> For many years, no one paid attention to it. They (bloggers) receive colossal income, flaunt their way of life on social networks, fear nothing – in general, they give facts to the survey and the tax department for verification. There is absolutely nothing surprising about what happened today. We have repeatedly warned that April 30 is the last syllable to file a tax return. The tax authorities began to work, the state drew attention to the problem. How many of these bloggers do we really have? »
Head of the Safe Internet League Ekaterina MizulinaIrina Bujor / Kommersant
“What TO DO with infogypsies? People need to be told that their whole way of life, everything they show on social media, is the result of fraudulent activities and tax evasion. I think this is not the last precedent. There have always been such characters, we all remember (Anatoly) Kashpirovsky, (Alan) Chumak. They have just arrived in the scope of social networks. In other words, Blinovskaya is our new Kashpirovsky, apparently.
What is known about the detention of Blinovskaya, read the Russian media material.
Member of the HRC, editor-in-chief of the Regnum agency Marina Akhmedova : “I’m not mean, but making money on human vulnerabilities, of which 918 (!) Millions of taxes have not been paid, seems to me a semi-fraud.”
Journalist Alexander Nevzorov*: “The success of Blinkovskoy testifies to the transcendent level of ignorance, helplessness and gullibility of the Russian masses.
Blogger Ilya Varlamov*:
“It’s funny that a person who for many years learned to make wishes, believe in positive energy and promised everything would be fine, couldn’t make up his mind not to. criminal cases. Blinovskaya, of course, is not a pity. It’s a pity that in our country there are so many fools who take money to such scammers. And she’s not the only one. Everywhere you spit everyone is trying to tell you how to be successful while lying on the stove.
“The secret to success is very simple. To succeed, you must not make wishes and breathe with the uterus, but learn. Learn and ********* (work hard), ********* (work hard) and learn. Then, after many years, something will work out. You will be successful. Certainly not successful success, as the information gypsies promise, but hard-earned, hard-earned, battle-hardened success.
Commissioner to the President of Russia for the protection of the rights of entrepreneurs Boris Titov : “The verdict, in fact, has already been given in advance, but its justification can only be judged by taking cognizance of the documents in the file. The fight against business fragmentation has become such an important phenomenon in life economic that it is time to draft specific rules.
Commissioner to the President of the Russian Federation for the Protection of the Rights of Entrepreneurs Boris TitovMikhail Tereshchenko / TASS
Attorney Sergei Jorin “For some time we have seen an already opaque signal to bloggers who are engaged, at least, in the news business. And to the max, probably, to all the bloggers who make a lot of money. We need to reconsider our relationship with the tax authorities and stop using transparent tax optimization schemes, and pay everything in full. <…> The situation is, to say the least, unpleasant, and, as they say, the rest should be prepared,” he concluded.
Vadim Bagaturia, associated with the Bar Association of Freitak and Sons, told Russian media why the tax department has gone after big bloggers and who else should be concerned.
political scientist Sergei Markov “Is this a new world where mentally inadequate, but very greyhounds cheat everyone and make millions? Well, now you absolutely must watch her shows, for which she has earned billions. To understand. I’ll let you know the results.”
Deputy of the State Duma Nina Ostanina “So far, she’s been convicted of tax evasion, not cheating people. <…> It’s extremely important to me to hold her accountable for harming people’s mental health. After all, many of those she deceived, as they say, were deceived <…> They should be implicated, including for crimes committed in their non-professional activities which caused harm to people’s health. They influenced the destinies, broke the fate of many people and families.
The editor of the Republic* Dmitry Kolezev*: “I also see a political context in the story. Bloggers, however ironically they are treated, today can be far more influential than mainstream media, subscriber trust is quite high. The total audience, even taking profit margins into account, is estimated at several tens of millions of people. The Kremlin is jealous of any phenomenon associated with the involvement of a mass audience and tries to extend its control over them. Especially before major election campaigns. I think that’s why a campaign against big bloggers is needed so that their colleagues in the store understand the inevitability of cooperation with the state.
“To put it simply, big apolitical bloggers need to be scared and understand that they can come to them at any time. So it is better to agree with all proposals, not to refuse to publish pro-government political content, not to allow statements of opposition <…> It seems to me that as the presidential elections approach, we will see many examples of such cooperation.
*registered by the Ministry of Justice of Russia in the register of foreign agents
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