Russia’s State Duma, the lower house of parliament, has adopted the final reading of amendments to the law on mass media, applying the status of “foreign agent” to mass media outlets.
If approved by the upper house of parliament and signed by the President, the law will designate any legal entities or individuals as foreign agents if they combine two criteria: the “dissemination of information,” including just posts on social media; and the receipt of money from abroad, as reported by Meduza.
The ‘”foreign agent” status was introduced outside of the media sphere in Russia in 2012. According to this legislation, non-profit organizations that receive foreign donations and engage in what the authorities consider to be “political activity” must register and declare themselves as foreign agents. This law has been criticized as being used to counter opposition groups or simply independent NGOs with little or no real political involvement.
