Ministry of Digital Development: for Russians, watching movies will remain anonymous
The Ministry of Digital Development of Russia responded to a request from Newsler.ru and clarified what will change after the government decree on unified accounting of media content views on the internet comes into effect.
According to the agency, the document will take effect on September 1, 2026. Its goal is to make the statistics of views for movies, series, and other video content in online cinemas and social networks more accurate. At the same time, for ordinary users, the ministry emphasizes, there will be no changes.
"There will be no changes in the usage scenarios of digital platforms for users," the Ministry of Digital Development noted.
The agency also emphasized that it will be impossible to find out what content a specific person watched. As before, the information will only be used in an anonymized form.
Currently, online cinemas and social networks from the Roskomnadzor registry provide the company Mediascope with information about content views. This includes data on viewing time, duration, type of content, and other indicators that allow assessing the popularity of movies, series, and videos. The anonymization of this data has so far been carried out by the platforms themselves.
After the new rules come into effect, the scheme will change. To improve the accuracy of statistics, views will first be linked to the user's phone number, after which the information will be anonymized. This will allow accounting for the audience of one person if they watch the same series or movie on different devices or platforms, without counting them as multiple viewers.
In addition, an additional data protection mechanism will be introduced — hashing of identifiers. This will be carried out by two independent companies — Yandex and VK. According to the Ministry of Digital Development, this will further confirm that the transmitted information is completely anonymous and does not allow identifying the user.
The innovations will only affect the audience counting system and content demand analysis. The ministry emphasizes that they are aimed at improving the accuracy of statistics for market participants and will not affect the usual way users interact with online cinemas and social networks.
Другие Новости Кирова (НЗК)
Ministry of Digital Development: for Russians, watching movies will remain anonymous
The Ministry of Digital Development of Russia commented on the changes that will come into effect on September 1, 2026. The agency stated that the new rules pertain only to more accurate and secure collection of view statistics, and it will still be impossible to find out what a specific user watched.
