MOSCOW — A threat has been issued by a Russian communications official to block Google unless it abides by the law vetoing (banning) certain websites.
Pressure on the internet companies is being built by the government of Russia – expressed as a campaign to block unsafe or harmful content.
In September, Russia adopted a law where search engines are required to abide by the state registry of banned websites and exclude banned content from search results.
But state registry still includes some websites which promote hate speech and self-harm.
Also, it contains a plethora of websites ostracized (blacklisted) for clearly political reasons, such as a Ukrainian news website.
Deputy Communications Oversight Agency chief Vitaly Subbotin was quoted by a Rusian news agency saying that authorities may push for amendments that would let them block search engines like Google if they do not succeed to comply with Russian law.
-Harleen Sandhu
