Russia's New Law Banning Fake News Is Censorship

3/18/19
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a new law which will allow the punishment of individuals and online media for spreading what Russia calls "fake news" and information which "disrespects" the state. The new rules allow prosecutors to direct complaints about material considered insulting to Russian officials to the government, which can then block websites publishing the information. Publications that repeatedly spread "unreliable" information which undermines social order, may face fines of up to $23,000, and repeat offenders could spend time in jail, according to The Washington Post. The laws will target online information that presents "clear disrespect for society, government, state symbols, the constitution and government institutions." Matthew Rojansky, director of the Wilson Center's Kennan Institute, told NPR the new laws in Russia are "politically significant" because the Internet "remained a relatively free space for political expression, including oppositional to the regime, even as the state media, and all other forms of media, be it print, or television, or radio, were largely shut down by the state, over the last 20 years."

He says some factions in Russia's government have pushed for more restrictions. "The idea that there should be a Russian internet is very convenient for those whose main goal is control, and that's where you come back to the siloviki, the security apparatus of Russia, including the legacy organizations of the KGB which were uncomfortable to begin with, with the idea that Russians were fully connected to a global information space that was in their view a tool of the United States," Rojansky said. The Moscow Times reports, "Tougher Internet laws introduced over the past five years require search engines to delete some search results, messaging services to share encryption keys with security services and social networks to store users' personal data on servers within the country."

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