The State Duma has authorized the use of “nuclear weapons” against Google – but only as a last resort
The State Duma of the Russian Federation adopted today in the final third reading a law that introduces fines of up to 3 million rubles for owners of information resources for sanctions against Russian media and citizens, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
As the developer of the law, deputy Alexander Khinshtein, said, the bill is a logical continuation of the policy aimed at protecting the country’s digital sovereignty.
“I anticipate the speeches of colleagues from opposition factions and, understanding the theses that will be voiced, I want to say that the law provides for liability for violating already existing norms of the law.
Many in this room feared that the government would have the ability to block or slow down the traffic of large resources that violate the rights of our citizens and the media. Blocking is the most extreme measure, similar to a nuclear strike, and the most reasonable measure is administrative responsibility, when large resources, including foreign ones, pay in rubles for not respecting our laws and ignoring our Constitution,” Khinshtein said.
He called on his colleagues to support the bill given the “severity of the moment.”
An amendment was made to the law for the third reading, according to which fines for IT resources that limit access to Russian media will range from 50 to 100 thousand rubles for citizens, from 200 to 400 thousand for officials; for legal entities - from 600 thousand to a million rubles. For a repeated violation, the fine for citizens will be from 200 to 300 thousand rubles; for officials - from 500 to 700 thousand; for legal entities - from 1,5 to 3 million rubles.
Deputy from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Yuri Sinelshchikov spoke out against her.
“The article was not presented in the first reading to avoid discussion,” Sinelshchikov said.
Let us note that the opposition’s statements about the ineffectiveness of fines and the threat of blocking are refuted by the successful experience of Turkey, a country that has recently demonstrated an independent policy.
In November, Turkey fined Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Periscope, Youtube and TikTok 10 million Turkish lira ($1,18 million) each for failing to appoint representatives in Ankara, as required by a new law that came into force on 1 October.
The fines were introduced after the network giants were only two days late in complying with the law.
Subsequently, if they failed to comply with the requirements of the Turkish side within 30 days from the date of notification of the first fine, the companies were threatened with new sanctions of 30 million Turkish liras. And then – traffic limitation from 50 to 90%.
As a result, in mid-December it became known that Youtube decided to appoint a representative of the platform in Turkey, as required by the new Turkish law on social networks. According to Youtube’s statement, the company will be represented in the republic by a legal entity.
If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.
Thank you!
Now the editors are aware.