Russians could face jail for not deleting news judged 'fake'
Russians could face jail for not deleting news judged
'fake'
Russians who refuse to take down information posted
online that has been judged "false" by a court could be sentenced to
up to a year in prison
AFP News 18 September 2018
Russians who refuse to take down online information that
has been judged "false" by a court could be sentenced to up to a year
in prison under a bill approved by MPs Tuesday in a key second reading.
Deputies in parliament's lower house voted to approve the
measure that would apply to individuals on social media as well as to those
working for media groups.
Senators and President Vladimir Putin still have to sign
off on the bill following a formal third reading in parliament.
The law comes in the context of an ongoing crackdown on
internet freedoms in Russia, where social media remains one of the few places
the opposition can organise.
Those who break the rules outlined in the bill could also
be subject to a 50,000-ruble ($740, 630-euro) fine, according to an approved
text distributed on the judicial site pravo.ru.
Russia has in recent years increasingly criminalised
online content, frequently jailing people for sharing or publishing information
deemed extremist or illegal, including for calls for opposition protests and
jokes deemed offensive to particular social groups.
The law currently forbids the sharing of content judged
extremist, though rights groups say this label is also applied to opposition
material.
"This new law, if it is adopted, will constitute a
new attack on freedom of expression in Russia," Agora International Human
Rights Group lawyer Irina Khrunova told AFP.
She said the move would target the likes of Alexei
Navalny, the opposition leader and blogger who has used sites like Youtube to
diffuse investigations into corruption among top officials.
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