May 22, 2025 12:00:00

Russia to ban 'Harry Potter' and 'Game of Thrones' due to anti-childbearing sentiment

By

Dave Catchpole

Russia has enacted a law banning the idea of not having children, which could result in the streaming of popular films such as the Harry Potter series and the TV drama series Game of Thrones being banned, local media has reported.

- Парламентская газета
https://www.pnp.ru/social/v-roskomnadzore-obyasnili-kak-budut-vyyavlyat-propagandu-chayldfri-v-kino.html

Russia Seeks to Ban Game Of Thrones, Harry Potter Over 'Childfree Ideology' - Newsweek
https://www.newsweek.com/russia-ban-harry-potter-childfree-ideology-2074120

Russia, which has suffered from a declining birth rate since the collapse of the Soviet Union, has reportedly lost more than 100,000 people in battle since invading Ukraine in 2022, and many workers have fled the country to avoid conscription.

Excellent IT engineers are fleeing Russia - GIGAZINE

The Russian parliament, which is rushing to strengthen measures to combat the declining population, unanimously passed a law in November 2024 outlawing 'propaganda about not having children.' Films that contain pornography, violent scenes, or promote non-traditional sexual orientation or gender reassignment have not been allowed to be distributed in Russia, but this law will add 'propaganda about not having children' to the list of films that are now prohibited.

When the law comes into force on September 1, 2025, anyone who openly promotes anti-childbearing sentiment will be fined up to 5 million rubles (about 9 million yen), and such content will be blocked if found in films or on the internet distributed online.

According to Parlamentskaya Gazeta, the newspaper of the Russian parliament, Russian authorities are drawing up a list of specific 'prohibited information' that will be newly banned, including the following:

- Promotes or justifies the refusal to have children or creates positive attitudes towards such an idea.
- Emphasise the benefits of not having children over having children or create a distorted view of the social equality of having children.
- Presents negative images of pregnancy, motherhood and fatherhood, or promotes positive attitudes about childlessness, which may motivate people to reject having children.

'In the fall of 2025, films that contain information about childfree people in any way or characters who espouse such ideology may disappear from online,' Parlamentskaya Gazeta reported.

Parlamentskaya Gazeta, citing sources at the Russian Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technologies and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor), has listed several titles that may be subject to bans in Russia.

One of them is 'Harry Potter,' and the reason for this is that Professor McGonagall, the vice headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where the main characters attend, does not have any children.

Similarly, Parlamentskaya Gazeta pointed out that the female knight Brienne of Game of Thrones, who gives up having children in order to become equal to her male counterparts, and the protagonist Claire of House of Cards and the character Samantha of Sex and the City have both chosen to have children, and said that these too could be subject to restrictions.

'Content containing information banned in Russia will be removed or blocked, regardless of when it appeared. Specific cases will be decided individually by experts who will assess the content in accordance with the law,' Alexander Yushchenko, first deputy chairman of the State Duma's Information Policy Committee, told Parlamentskaya Gazeta.