In a country where the AIDS epidemics is still spreading at an alarming pace — with 1.16 million infections officially reported by mid-2017, and more than 100,000 reported new cases each year — the Russian authorities have decided to ban a website, Parni+ (‘Guys+’), that provides the gay community with medical and social information about the disease.
This website has just been notified about this measure by Roskomnadzor, the Internet and telecom regulator which illustrated itself in recent weeks by its failed attempts to block access to Telegram.
Roskomnadzor’s notice refers to a January 26 ruling from a district court in the Altai region — which Parni+ claims never to have been informed of, leaving no possibility to appeal the verdict.
“The site contains forbidden information that denies family values and promotes non-traditional sexual relationships,” the notice reads. Promotion of homosexuality among minors, a motive which is often presented for banning such sites, is not mentioned specifically.
Neither does the letter specify which content from Parni+ was found illegal, nor defines what the denial of family values consists in.
Last month Roskomnadzor started enforcing another court decision to block Gay.ru, a website launched more than 20 years ago, for “gay propaganda.”
