The more holder or owner of instagram account has followers the more popular he or she can be deemed. If the blogger is popular he can count on profitable advertisement contracts. Good contracts can generate good revenue for blogger. The deputies from Russian state duma think this way. They believe if the popular blogger makes good money the taxes from these revenues are to be paid to the state budget.
But the problem is the bloggers don’t hurry up to pay taxes or in many cases even refuse to declare publicly how much they make on advertising. The Russian state deputies believe they have found decision for problem and nightmare of tax inspector: how to disclose the sacral secret of bloggers and make them pay taxes from all their advertising revenue. Sometimes bloggers claim they have very “profitable” deals. The deputies want each popular blogger to incorporate as legal entity.
Actually the initiative is much wider. Any blogger, who places advertisement in his or her blog, should “be legally bound with account”. In other words the deputies want the pages of popular bloggers to belong to legal entities. Such entities can be owned by bloggers themselves or by companies acting as agents for bloggers or many other legal mechanisms the blogger choose. The legal entity would be obliged to pay taxes and comply with Russian law on mass media.
The incorporation of blogger into legal entities would raise liability for published information the deputies believe. The blogger, i.e. legal entity, would be responsible for false information or advertisement, for advertising of products dangerous for customers’ health etc. The deputies know that all previous attempts to regulate blogging activity failed and were not effective at all. Such initiative would lead ultimately to blocking of social network in Russia. It is still unclear how the state authorities intend to control over bloggers (tax obligations etc.).