Russian government further restricts internet

Russian President Putin has ratified a law further restricting internet freedom. Bloggers with more than 3000 visitors per day must register. Search engines and social networks are also restricted.

Bloggers with many readers therefore fall under the same rules as, for example, newspapers. Not only do they have to register with the telecom watchdog, they can’t be anonymous and can be held responsible for the information they publish, writes The New York Times.

Failure to comply with the law will result in fines of up to 100,000 euros and closure of the weblog in question. However, it is unclear how the number of 3000 daily visitors is measured. The two most popular blogging platforms in Russia, Yandex and LiveJournal, have already decided to stop public statistics counters below 3000 when the law was announced.

Blog platforms, forums and other sites that enable content posting, as well as search engines, must keep records of who posts what, according to The New York Times. This data must be kept for six months and kept on Russian territory. It is not yet known whether large, foreign internet companies such as Google, Twitter and Facebook are willing to cooperate.

Furthermore, the Russian president has passed a law imposing heavy fines for swearing on television, as well as in films, literature and plays. Earlier this year, Russia passed a law allowing the government to block websites.