Ru-Center's new rules have sparked antitrust disputes.

The new rules for registering third-level domains, recently published by Ru-center, have not only caused active protests from users and discussionson the introduction of censorship, but also accusations of Ru-center of monopoly.

The Federal Antimonopoly Service received a complaint against Ru-center, accusing the company of monopoly.

As a reminder, the new version of the rules for registering third-level domains stipulates that Ru-center may terminate the delegation of a domain at any time in order to prevent illegal activity.

These rules primarily concern the dissemination of pornography, extremist activity, the overthrow of government, as well as "activities that are contrary to public interests, principles of humanity and morality, and that offend human dignity or religious feelings."

Previously, a website could only be shut down by a court order. Now, Ru-center can do so without a court order, based solely on its own assessment. The complaint to the FAS states the following: "The changes were made unilaterally, and consumers have no influence on these rules: they cannot discuss them, make any changes, or propose their own terms."

Thus, "Ru-center, in violation of Article 10 of the Federal Law "On Protection of Competition," is abusing its dominant position in the domain registration and servicing market in the Russian Federation and imposing unfavorable terms on its users. The applicant also emphasizes that Ru-center is substituting for judicial authority, since, by virtue of Articles 11 and 12 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, only a court can resolve the issue of ownership of domain names, as well as decide on the termination of domains due to their content."

If the Federal Antimonopoly Service finds a violation of current legislation, the company could face a fine of between 300,000 and 1 million rubles.