Russian President Vladimir Putin has on Monday inked a series of bills to criminalize a person who allegedly would disrespecting” the state or spread “fake news”, which critics say will curtail the freedom of speech of condemning the government.
According to ANI news reports, the new bill passed by the president will allow the Russian authorities to block internet accounts or sites that publish “fake news” and also penalizes those posting material found to be a distasteful and insulting to the state officials, Russian society and state symbols.
According to the new law, any individual found posting “fake news” will have to pay a fine worth 100,000 rubles, while the public officials need to cough up about 200,000 rubles. The fine for the corporate organizations has been set at 500,000 rubles, according to TASS news agency reports.
The new legislation, however, mandates that the news publications which are registered with Roskomnadzor with including online media sites would be offered with one last chance to take down reports that deemed as “fake news” before the government block their accounts.
And as per the rule, those companies who are not registers with Roskomnadzor will get blocked without any warning.
Those who insult Russian authorities, flag, nation’s constitution, public or government agencies will have to pay a fine of 100,000 rubles. Those offenders repeating will face some huge penalties and even can be locked up in jail for at least 15 days.