Russia’s censorship agency Roskomnadzor has deleted over 117,000 “fakes” and blocked 1,177 websites since the start of the war in Ukraine, the agency reports on its Telegram channel.
“Since late February, we have detected and removed over 117,000 fakes, 38,000 calls for protests, and blocked 1,177 websites with Ukrainian nationalist propaganda with a total audience of 202 mln users,” the message says.
Roskomnadzor chief Andrei Lipov also stated that the agency’s experts are involved in the development of a bill that increases penalties for unlawful use of personal data. The bill will introduce criminal liability for persons selling personal data.
On Thursday, the censorship agency blocked Brainly, a website where students can ask questions about their homework. Russian human rights group OVD-Info points out that the website was blocked after the platform replied to a question about what is happening in Ukraine. Brainly stated on Facebook that Roskomnadzor had ordered the platform to delete “content related to the war in Ukraine” earlier this week, but the company refused to do it.
On 24 May, Roskomnadzor blocked the websites of Interfax Ukraine news agency, as well as Vot Tak and Sukhumi.info news outlets. The website of writer and blogger Alex Exler was also blocked.
The website of Novaya Gazeta. Europe was blocked in Russia on 29 April. According to Roskomnadzor, the website published “unreliable information” about the war in Ukraine.
