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| Russia wants to block social networks |
The Russian government is enacting a new law banning the use of foreign social media sites in Russia because it discriminates against Russian media operating abroad.
In the notes attached to the new bill, websites like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are specifically mentioned. The bill was discussed last week at a meeting of the Russian State Duma.
The Russian parliamentarian said: Since April 2020, national authorities have received complaints from editors of Russian news sites whose social media accounts have been censored.
They added that media outlets such as "Russia Today", "Ria Novosti" and "Crimea 24" were subjected to censorship, and about 20 types of discrimination were recorded.
The discriminatory behavior mentioned in the bill's memorandum relates to rules that Twitter and Facebook introduced this year and rules that YouTube introduced in 2018.
All three websites display private tags in NNC profiles and reduce their visibility on the website by removing their content from the recommendation algorithm.
Russian parliamentarians have described these rules as unreasonable restrictions that discriminate against the Russian media, describing them as violations of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of Russian citizens.
The new law provides the authority of the Russian Attorney General's Office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to block social media platforms that impose these restrictions on Russian news websites.
After the decision, Roskomnadzor, Russia's telecoms watchdog, was asked to enforce the blocking through a nationwide blacklist system, which has been blocking LinkedIn, Microsoft's professional networking platform, since 2016..
The State Duma law firm did not find any problems with the legal text and gave the green light for further discussion and approval.
For the law to enter into force, it must first be approved by the legislative body of the State Duma, then approved by the Supreme Council of Parliament and signed by the President (Vladimir Putin).
The Russian government, via Roskomnadzor, also announced new measures against Google for failing to block up to 30% of dangerous content in search results shown to Russian citizens.
Russia has long tried to tighten control over Internet use on its soil, and the Federal Security Service has directed some of the country's leading internet companies to give them continuous access to their systems.