From December 1, 2023, Roskomnadzor’s right to block access to sites with information on services that help bypass blocking and gain access to sites prohibited in the Russian Federation will come into force. The corresponding resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Russian Federation appeared on the portal of regulatory legal acts.
The draft of the Ministry of Digital Development on the new powers of Roskomnadzor was drawn up in early September, and in early July, the Information Policy Committee of the State Duma approved amendments to the Regulations on the Federal Communications Supervision Service, Information Technologies and Mass Communications.
According to the new document of the Cabinet of Ministers, Roskomnadzor will be able to register in the Unified Register of Prohibited Information Sites containing “information on the forms and methods of providing access to information resources and (or) information and telecommunications networks, access to which is limited to the territory of the Russian Federation.”
Experts believe that the registry may also include portals reporting on the functioning of VPN services in general: these sites will thus be included in a single list with portals providing information on the methods, methods of development, production and use of medicines; information on suicide methods; proposals for remote alcohol retailing and publication of pornographic images of minors.
The sites will be verified, including after citizens apply for it through a special form on the Roskomnadzor website (it is assumed that Internet users themselves will report the presence of signs of prohibited information on a particular resource).
Portal owners will be able to appeal blocking decisions within one month.
Author:
Ekaterina Alipova
Source: RB

I am a professional journalist and content creator with extensive experience writing for news websites. I currently work as an author at Gadget Onus, where I specialize in covering hot news topics. My written pieces have been published on some of the biggest media outlets around the world, including The Guardian and BBC News.