Kazakhstani prankers might be blocked on social media, deputy says
Majilis member Nartai Sarsengaliev submitted a parliamentary inquiry to the Ministries of Internal Affairs as well as Culture and Information, raising the issue of the growing number of dangerous and provocative pranks in society, Kazinform News Agency correspondent reports.
“Today, society is literally flooded with people who, for the sake of cheap popularity, commit foolish and dangerous acts, confusing rudeness with humor. Let me give concrete examples: in Astana, a blogger together with friends brought a ‘fake corpse’ into an elevator and then turned off the lights. At that moment, the person pretending to be dead began to move. People in the elevator screamed in terror. Another man entered an elevator with a pistol and began pointing it at people, frightening them. In Almaty, bloggers threw garbage at street sweepers, filming it and spreading the videos online. There are many such examples,” Sarsengaliev stated.
According to him, these “pranks” are not humor, but a manifestation of disrespect and irresponsibility. At the same time, the deputy also spoke about a new type of prank — involving artificial intelligence.
“Some create videos in which heads of state or well-known officials appear to be shopping in stores. People unfamiliar with digital technologies easily believe the forgery. Under the pretext of ‘marketing,’ using AI for such manipulation is unacceptable,” he believes.
In this regard, the Majilis member proposed to:
● Identify individuals who violated public order or invaded the personal privacy of citizens during pranks, compile a unified registry, and publish it;
● Immediately block social media pages that post offensive or dangerous pranks that violate people’s honor and dignity;
● Require social media administrators to promptly report the publication of dangerous pranks and videos to authorized bodies;
● Conduct systematic and effective informational and educational work, creating content aimed at preventing such negative phenomena.
As reported earlier, the EU plans to restrict children’s access to social media.
