Legal and psychological grounds for determining information as harmful to the health and development of children

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of the psychological and legal aspects of the content of the harm category as a criterion for evaluating information, the consumers of which are minors. Based on the analysis of Russian legislation in the field of children’ information security, we made a conclusion about the absence at the regulatory level of certain, but at the same time necessary and sufficient criteria for isolating information harmful to children. The paper contents proposals to introduce the labeling content of informational products in Russia, as well as to take into account the conditions of informational distribution as a factor used for age marking of informational products and defining content as creating risks for children’ informational safety. One of the promising directions in the development of legal regulation of relations in the field of protecting children from destructive information is proposed to be a risk-based approach to assessing the likelihood of harm to the child’s psyche by disseminating information. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of the content of mentally harmful content for children. At the same time, the authors substantiate the expediency of using such a more accurate criterion for evaluating information as the criterion of "the negative impact of information on the child’s mental development". The paper points out that information products, ideally, should contribute to the formation of mental formations of the age of consumers, or at least not prevent this. On the example of the tasks of the children’ mental development in certain age periods, the paper illustrates the shortcomings of the current age-related categorization of information products and suggests options for its improvement.