Just five years ago, wild antics in live streams were seen more as a local phenomenon and a reason to criticize individual, overly flamboyant bloggers. Today, however, the scale of the problem has finally gone beyond individual irresponsibility, reports infohub.kz.
In social networks now you can find profanity, staged kidnappings, nude dancing, and public discussions of intimate details. In conditions where a significant portion of the audience of popular platforms are minors, aggressive broadcasts have become a factor that deforms teenagers' perceptions of social norms.
The state's attention to the problem of trash streaming is not a spontaneous reaction, but part of a global conceptual shift. As President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has repeatedly emphasized, the reforms being carried out in the country affect not only government institutions, but also the very worldview of citizens. Kazakhstan's status as a rule-of-law state, in the opinion of the Head of State, should be reflected not only on paper, but also in the daily life of people, including their behavior in the digital space.
This ideological line was clearly outlined by First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration Yerlan Karin, commenting on strict measures against unacceptable behavior on social networks. He directly pointed out that today many public conflicts arise due to banal lack of culture and bad manners. When non-compliance with elementary ethical norms and disrespect for each other become the "norm," the formation of a new public ethics turns into one of the most important tasks of our time.
Words are already backed by concrete actions of law enforcement agencies, which have shown that the Internet is no longer a zone free from laws and morality. To date, the police have moved from warnings to real punishments for authors of shock content: 29 people have been brought to responsibility in the form of fines, and another 13 violators have been sent to arrest for a period of 5 to 20 days. At the same time, law enforcement officers apply the practice of public disclosure: full names and nicknames of trash streamers are now named openly, depriving them of their usual network anonymity.
The severity of the measures taken is easily explained. Any public broadcast to which children have free access must have clear boundaries—exactly the same ones that have worked for decades on television, print media, and traditional public spaces.
Popular platforms such as TikTok and Instagram have long ceased to be platforms exclusively for adults. Today they are the basic media environment for teenagers, and what is now normalized on their smartphone screens will tomorrow become the foundation of their behavioral attitudes in society. That is why the consistent improvement of the information field from authors of trash content is not a one-time action, but a systematic work to protect public morality and the safety of the younger generation.
And judging by the reaction of citizens, Kazakhs generally welcome and support the state's work in forming a new public culture.