“The Prosecutor’s office may now block such fake news sources prior to the judicial decision. Under separate legislation — written by the same parliamentarian, Andrei Klishas of Putin’s United Russia party — publications that repeatedly spread “fake news” will face fines of up to 1.5 million rubles or $22,900. And when it comes to insulting authorities, repeat offenders will face a fine of up to 300,000 rubles — and 15 days in jail. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, “This sphere of fake news, insulting and so on, is regulated fairly harshly in many countries of the world including Europe. “Now it’s much more straightforward: If the state considers any online speech extremist, it can block it, and it can severely punish the speaker,” Rojansky wrote.

Source: National Post March 19, 2019 15:11 UTC