Developer EA Sports backed a campaign in the UK to combat homophobia, biphobia and transphobia in football

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Russian MPs have asked the state communications oversight agency to take action against the Fifa 17 video game for violating the country’s law against gay propaganda.



Communist MPs sent a letter to the communications oversight and state consumer protection agencies complaining that the popular EA Sports football game, which is rated all ages, “invites users to support the English football premier league’s Rainbow Laces action, a massive campaign in support of LGBT”, Izvestia newspaper reported.

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According to the 2013 law, such propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations can cause “harm to children’s health and development”, the letter said.

The UK-based LGBT rights group Stonewall began the Rainbow Laces campaign last month to combat homophobia, biphobia and transphobia in football, noting that 72% of fans had heard anti-LGBT remarks at games over the past five years. Premier League matches and social media platforms have featured materials from the campaign.

EA Sports also backed the campaign by allowing Fifa 17 players to obtain free rainbow-coloured uniforms for their virtual footballers in the game’s ultimate team mode. This action expired on 28 November.

Nonetheless, parliamentarians suggested Fifa 17 could be banned in Russia. United Russia MP Irina Rodnina, a former figure skater who won three Olympic gold medals for the Soviet Union, told Izvestia that the authorities needed to “verify the possibility of distributing this game on the territory of the Russian Federation”.

“Every state has its internal laws and order; they need to be obeyed,” she said.

Communist MP Valery Rashkin told Izvestia that, following the investigation, the authorities should order the game’s developer, EA Canada, to “introduce changes to the programming code or the age classification of this information product, and if it refuses, adopt corresponding restrictive measures”.

In October, the communications oversight agency blacklisted the website of Deti 404, a group that posts messages of support by and for LGBT teenagers. Communist MPs introduced legislation in 2015 to fine or jail anyone who comes out or speaks of their homosexuality in public.