russia Is Turning Its Book Industry into a Field of Total Censorship

The largest russian book holding “Eksmo-AST” has  announced colossal spending on  checking literature due to the authorities’ increasingly tight requirements for “prohibited content”. Each of the tens of thousands of books has to be reviewed for references to “non-traditional relationships”, “extremism”, drugs or profanity.

To this end, both editors and artificial intelligence are being involved. AI verification costs 20–30 rubles per copy, while human labor accounts for up to a third of editors’ time, which amounts to 2–3 billion rubles per year. This is almost a seventh of the publishing house’s revenue.

russian authorities plan to introduce widespread book censorship with the help of AI. A special program is already being developed by the ministry of digital development. Besides, authorities have expanded the list of “prohibited swear words” from 4 to 14 words. If these rules are put into practice, up to 30 % of classic works could be banned.

Formally, the sale of books by authors recognized as “foreign agents” is not prohibited. However, shops refuse to promote them for fear of persecution. Some authors have already been censored – their books have been withdrawn from sale and confiscated. The russian book union has already warned bookshops that if they continue to sell books by “foreign agents” after September 1, they will not be eligible for municipal support in terms of rent and advertising, social entrepreneurship status, participation in municipal competitions, or supplying books to schools and libraries. Please, be reminded,  that the russian book union is formally a non-governmental organization headed by former director of the fsb Sergei Stepashin.

Thus, the book market in russia has come under total censorship: publishers are spending resources not on development, but on searching for “forbidden” words, topics, and even thoughts, while the state is increasingly demonstrating its fear of free speech.