Harmful Information in Internet Media: The «Overton Window» and Destructive Network Content Interrelationships

Abstract

The paper is devoted to the analysis of Internet media monitoring for the dissemination of destructive content and the comparison of the identified types of information of aggressive and (auto)destructive nature with legally fixed prohibitions and restrictions on the right to freedom of information dissemination. The author considers the issues of networking and decentralization of destructive communities in Runet and the development of radical movements using the Ingamasi technology. Taking into account the patterns of distribution of various types of destructive content revealed during the study, including the peculiarities of communication in network communities of different types, the refraction of the «Overton window» theory to the media field of the dissemination of destructive information in Internet media was scientifically justified.Despite the existence of a regulatory framework for ensuring the information security of the individual, the realities of the development of communication in the digital environment demonstrate the presence of many gray areas. New communication and content risks require a systemic transformation and updating of the legal regulation of the digital environment in order to ensure the information and ideological security of the individual. Given the trends in the spread of new types of aggressive and depressive-suicidal content discussed in the paper, the author concludes that it is necessary to normalize new types of prohibited and restricted information by making systemic changes to the Federal Law «On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection», the Federal Law «On the Protection of Children from Information that causes Harm their health and development», the Law of the Russian Federation «On Mass Media», as well as the improvement of administrative and criminal legislation, including through the introduction of new elements of offenses (crimes).