Russia Imposes Ban on Swearing in Music, Books & Movies
Arts and culture is going to be all "civilised" in Russia no matter how severely it gets accused of ethical violation on the political front. A new law passed on Monday, May 5 that would now ban swearing in every form of event related to arts, culture and entertainment in Russia. Stanislav Govorukhin, a leading film director turned MP, is one of the prominent people who designed the new law. Govorukhin is known for his pro-Putin stands.
President Vladimir Putin banned swearing in movies as well. Any movie which has obscene language is not going to get a theatrical distribution certificate, which means people won't be able to watch it in a Russian movie theatre. The movie will be, however, allowed to be distributed as DVDs in sealed packages with a label that says "Contains obscene language." The rules are going to be similar for CDs and books. Books that have swear words must carry relevant warnings on the cover.
Russian citizens will not be spared either. CNN reported that an individual caught using foul language will have to pay $70 as a fine. Businesses are likely to face a fine as high as $1,400 while officials will be charged $40. Businesses will have to pay a bigger amount for fines. They may also be suspended for three months in case there is a repeated offence. Whether a language is profane or not will be determined through "an independent examination." A panel of experts is going to decide it if there is a dispute.
According to BBC, people at around two-thirds of companies in Russia get engaged in swearing -- according to research. Russians will have less than a couple of months to use profanity in their language as the ban is going to be effective from July 1. Any swearing occurred before the date will not be considered as an offence. It remains unclear if the ban will be effective on social media as well.