Russian censors may see their workload increase again with a new law coming into force against websites that “discredit the honor, dignity and business reputation of citizens and legal entities.”
The law was signed President Vladimir Putin Monday last week. Internet resources can be banned following a court decision, should they refuse to remove the contentious content. Roskomadzor, the federal Internet and telecom regulator, will request ISPs and telecom operator to block access to these sites from Russia.
Previously, in similar situations, website owners just had to pay a fine.
The new law will help “protect the rights and legal interests of those, whose honor, dignity and reputation were damaged as a result of the distribution of untrue negative information,” say the lawmakers who supported its adoption.
Earlier this month, Russian lawmakers drafted a new version of legislation that would impose additional regulations on social networks.
Roskomnadzor is now internationally renowned for having banned LinkedIn in 2016 for non compliance with the legislation on personal data storage, and for its recent clumsy attempts to block access to Telegram following the latter’s refusal to share encryption keys with the authorities, as requested by another law.
Recently Roskomnadzor also blocked access to 13 websites “trading cryptocurrencies or spreading information about it,” based on court decisions.
