New censorship laws in Russia

March 21, 2019

On March 18, 2019, it was announced that the Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed two new bills against «fake news» and «internet insults». By those laws, the Russian authorities can block websites and severely punish them for publishing information whicj the Kremlin does not like.

The Federation Council, which serves as the upper house in Russia, approved the laws on March 13, after the State Duma, the lower house, had already given its approval on March 7.

On March 11, the Russian Presidential Human Rights Council had urged the Federation Council to send the texts back to the Duma for review. The Council, whose advice is often ignored by Putin, quoted the European Convention on Human Rights and said that freedom of expression should not be restricted because of «doubts about what is true».

According to the laws, the authorities can now block websites or internet accounts when they publish messages that are seen as «fake news». They can also be punished for posting material «that offends national symbols, the Russian society or the Russian authorities».

One of the consequences is that the country's attorney general can decide autonomously what is or is not fake news, without needing a court order. Once the decision has been made, the site or account can be banned by the national censor, the Федеральная служба по надзору в сфере связи, информационных технологий и массовых коммуникаций (Роскомнадзор) or the Federal Service for the Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media, abbreviated as Roskomnadzor. The fines for placing fake news are between 100,000 rubles (1,370 euros) and 1,500,000 rubles (20,550 euros) for repeated infringements. Insulting national symbols and authorities, including Putin, can cost 300,000 rubles (4,110 euros), or 15 days in jail for repeated offenses.

Websites registered with Roskomnadzor will have the chance to delete the messages, other websites will be blocked without warning if they go wrong.

Some hundred journalists and public figures, including human rights activist Zoya Svetova and the popular writer Lyudmila Ulitskaya, have signed a petition opposing the laws they call direct censorship. They also fear that Russia, like China, would isolate itself from the rest of the world wide web.

On March 10, 15.000 people demonstrated in the streets of Moscow against the laws. 29 demonstrators were arrested and taken away by the police. There were also manifestations in other cities. On the same day, a number of important Russian internet companies were also targeted by hackers. They hijacked the domain name servers to redirect visitors from the Yandex search engine to the IP addresses of websites that were blacklisted by Roskomnadzor. Yandex tried to minimise the extent of the attacks, yet they admitted that Roskomnadzor's procedures are «weak».

Click here to read more about censorship in Bulgakov's time

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