Innovative development has led to the formation of a new sector of the economy - the digital economy. In the world, its formation is carried out in different ways. The purpose of the article is to analyze the problems of the formation of the digital economy in Russia. As a result of the study, the following tasks were solved: a review of the development of the digital economy; identified risks and threats to the development of the digital economy; suggested ways to overcome the problems of the development of the digital economy. The authors substantiated the conclusion that the government and business should work together to develop the digital economy, and highlighted the methods of this activity.