Russia tells kid’s coding platform to leave only two genders for registration

Updated on: 03 November 2022

Jurgita Lapienytė
Chief Editor

Russian communications watchdog requested American educational platform to leave only two gender options for its users – male and female.

Scratch, an educational tool for programming, is primarily aimed at children (8 to 16 years old). It allows kids to create digital stories, games, and animations.

Upon registration, its users, dubbed Scratchers, can choose from a variety of gender options. However, Russia insists there should be only two – male and female.

Roskomnadzor sent a request to Scratch asking to leave two gender options for Russian users.

"Earlier, information appeared that the Scratch educational service at the registration stage offers users various options for choosing a gender, including those that do not correspond to traditional Russian values," Roskomnadzor said.

Upon registration, Scratch users are prompted with a message: “Scratch welcomes people of all genders,” and can pick from one of the following options: male, female, non-binary, another gender, I prefer not to say.

Scratch was also accused of redundant data collection, given that men and women in Russia have equal rights to education.