Schizotericism: Russians spent 2.4 trillion rubles on tarologists and fortune tellers in 2024

The State Duma believes that esoteric services with economic consequences are more dangerous than other types of fraud

Schizotericism: Russians spent 2.4 trillion rubles on tarologists and fortune tellers in 2024
Photo: Реальное время

A draft law on labelling esoteric content is under development.

The bill banning the advertising of tarology services will be considered in the next two to three months, said its author — deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Information Technology and Communications Andrey Svintsov.

At a press conference, he cited data that 72% of Russians support the initiative.

“The issue is really overdue," said the deputy.

According to Andrey Svintsov, in 2024, Russians spent 2.4 trillion rubles on the services of psychics, fortune tellers, witches, astrologers and tarologists. The latter account for about 1-2% of the total volume.

“I saw tarot cards once — I was not too lazy and made a tarot layout for myself on the air. Of course, I didn't pay a dime for it. I was wondering how scammers deceive our citizens," he shared his experience. “I checked it myself, and I saw that it was pure fraud.”

The deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy clarified that the veto on advertising tarot readers is only the first stage in the fight against such scams. We are not talking about banning the cards themselves and the divination process — if it takes place in an entertaining format.

“But if scammers make an 'industrial' business out of it, that is, it is not some kind of startup, it is already a powerful industry, which, in terms of economic consequences, may even be more dangerous than other types of fraud that flourish in our country," Andrey Svintsov warned.

Реальное время / realnoevremya.ru

He also has a draft law in development that will oblige any media outlet and bloggers to mark it with a bar when posting such content, similar to how smoking and violence scenes in films are marked.

“This content is entertaining, there is zero trust in it," he gave an example of what such a label might look like. “That is, every citizen should understand that this is entertainment. It's not that we forbid talking about it.

Another initiative is the licensing of various kinds of folk healers. Realnoe Vremya wrote that a similar registry already exists in Bashkiria. The list includes seven specialists who have received official permission to practice folk medicine. According to the regional ministry of healthcare, the registry includes specialists practicing herbal medicine, chiropractic, yoga therapy, acupuncture and other similar methods. Permits for practicing traditional medicine have been issued in Bashkiria since 2019, but this is the first time they have been collected in a single official register. At the moment, there are no similar open lists in other regions of the country.

“A person is not getting advice, but is being misled”

Speaking about labelling content, Andrey Svintsov recalled the popular show “Battle of Psychics” (Bitva extrasensov), which, in his opinion, should also be labelled. The winner of one of the seasons, Maxim Levin, the president of the foundation for the promotion of socially significant projects, supported the initiative to ban tarot readers advertising.:

“People from the field of esotericism on the Internet do not introduce themselves in person, hide, give suspicious cards for payment. This is precisely schizotericism, which must be eliminated in all possible ways.”

Maxim Levin is sure that people who trust fortune tellers and tarologists are often manipulated.

“A person is told terrible things, which he begins to believe. This even applies to diagnoses. A person is not getting advice, but is being misled. A specialist should calm a person down, but this does not happen," he said.

“We are forced to judge all kinds of charlatans with a boring Criminal or Administrative Code”

Initiatives to ban the advertising of tarogues and the labelling of such content in the media are not the toughest. Last October, State Duma Deputy Alexander Spiridonov proposed to completely ban the activities of magicians and psychics, as well as make it criminalised.

After that, State Duma deputy Vitaly Milonov said that psychics, magicians, and sorcerers deserve the harshest punishment, and they should be judged taking into account aggravating circumstances: “There are a lot of people lying in cemeteries who have decided to treat cancer with magic rather than surgery. Therefore, every witch should be sent to prison for an additional five to six years.”

“Unfortunately, the wonderful practical guide 'Hammer of Witches' is somewhat outdated, and we are forced to judge all kinds of charlatans who call themselves wizards and witches with a boring Criminal or Administrative Code," Vitaly Milonov explained.
Daria Pinegina

Подписывайтесь на телеграм-канал, группу «ВКонтакте» и страницу в «Одноклассниках» «Реального времени». Ежедневные видео на Rutube, «Дзене» и Youtube.