Mandatory reporting on advertising content published over a year ago has been abolished, meaning bloggers are no longer required to provide data on older ads. This change, while not yet applicable to video bloggers, has been positively received by the blogging community, as it is expected to significantly reduce operational costs and administrative burden.
The Russian government has reduced the mandatory reporting period for advertising content by bloggers to one year, abolishing the previous requirement for indefinite reporting. According to the published legal act, bloggers are now exempt from providing data on advertisements published more than 12 months ago. Evgeny Voltov, a digital producer, manager of millionaire bloggers, and founder of medialab.pro, stated that this decision will significantly simplify the work of content creators and reduce bureaucratic procedures.
The cancellation of indefinite advertising reporting significantly simplifies opportunities for bloggers and reduces accounting costs, salary payments, and the duration of interaction with advertising data operators. For regular bloggers, this is good news. Video bloggers face a bit more difficulty because indefinite reporting still applies to them, and it is indeed quite a laborious process, as is the introduction of advertising labels in general. However, I believe that the emergence of labeling itself has allowed consumers to identify whether something is an advertisement or a genuine recommendation from a blogger. The permanent, indefinite report we are currently forced to submit genuinely consumes time and resources. But from the perspective of labeling efficacy, it has already proven effective, and consumers have become more rational in choosing goods and services recommended by bloggers, knowing that it is an advertisement. That is honest. The abolition of indefinite reporting may be related to algorithms that, in case of reduced traffic on a platform, show old videos, starting to broadcast them, which could be equated to advertising distribution. Many bloggers petitioned the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) and Roskomnadzor for clarification and commentary on whether old videos needed to be deleted. We received such a comment. We now know that old videos only need to be deleted if the action or advertising campaign is still ongoing. In other words, if the meta-message carried by the advertiser is still relevant.
Nevertheless, for video content published on platforms like YouTube, Rutube, and `VK Clips`, the indefinite reporting requirement remains. This is due to the nature of recommendation algorithms, which can resurface old videos in users` feeds, thereby continuing the distribution of advertising content.
Despite this, even these changes represent a significant breakthrough, according to Evgeny Bazhenov, known as the host of the YouTube channel Bad Comedian and a millionaire blogger:
I spoke with colleagues, and the indefinite `yoke` of reporting is quite strange. The fact that they have met us halfway, even a little, is certainly pleasing because there was an enormous amount of red tape, unnecessary documents, and actions. In reality, bloggers still have to collect statistics and send them to agencies. Colleagues constantly dealt with this, but they were forced to delete advertisements. It would hang for a week, then it had to be cut out. Because what`s the point of processing statistics from two weeks or a month ago when there will only be 100 views? Especially in Telegram, news is quickly outdated. You could have some long-term advertising, like integrations where a person becomes the face of a brand; there probably isn`t even this kind of statistics. They probably met us halfway because, first, it`s clearly inconvenient, and in Telegram posts of officials, colleagues, and friends. Many run social media accounts, sell ads, and there were many scandals related to this, for example, when Instagram (owned by Meta, a company banned and recognized as extremist in Russia. — BFM) was prohibited, and some wife of a deputy ran a page there and sold ads. Deputies, I think, face this. So a year is still actually a very long period, and I think posts will continue to be deleted, and that`s that.
These new regulations came into effect immediately upon the official publication of the relevant document. The process of discontinuing mandatory reporting occurs automatically, requiring no additional actions from bloggers.
Rupert Blackwood 
Clement Ashworth