Major Russian digital platforms have begun slapping drug-use warnings on beloved children’s books, the independent Russian news outlet Verstka reported. Litres, the e-commerce platform Ozon, the publisher AST, and several other companies added the labels.
The warnings flag “illegal consumption of narcotic substances, psychotropic substances, and their analogs” and appeared on titles including Krokodil Gena i Cheburashka “Crocodile Gena and Cheburashka,” Volshebnik Izumrudnogo goroda “The Wizard of the Emerald City,” Starik Khottabych “Old Man Hottabych,” Tri porosenka “The Three Little Pigs,” Skazki “Tales” by Korney Chukovsky, Po shchuchyemu veleniyu i drugiye skazki “By Pike’s Command and Other Tales,” Khobbitt, ili Tuda i obratno “The Hobbit, or There and Back Again,” Ostrov sokrovishch “Treasure Island,” Priklyucheniya Toma Soyera “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” and Piter Pen “Peter Pan.”
Litres told the Telegram news channel Ostorozhno Novosti (Caution, News) that the labels had been applied to such books in error and would soon be removed. “In most cases, the labels were added based on metadata provided by rights holders,” the service added.
On March 1, amendments to Russia’s law banning the “promotion of drugs” took effect, prohibiting any mention of drugs in media, books, music, and film without a special label. The label must accompany all works published in Russia after August 1, 1990. Amid that, Russian e-book services began adding the corresponding labels to works by Pushkin, Gogol, and Tolstoy.
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