In its long-standing efforts to censor the Internet by blocking access to a large number of websites in the country, Russia passed a new bill introducing fines for search engines that provide links to banned sites, VPN services and anonymization tools.
VPNs or virtual private networks are third-party services that help users access blocked sites by routing users through a remote connection, hiding their location and access data to sites that are normally restricted or censored by a specific country.
According to the amendments to the Code of Administrative Offences of the Russian Federation, in addition to introducing fines for providing links to prohibited resources, the lower house of the Russian parliament, the State Duma, will also impose fines on search engines if they do not stop issuing links to resources that provide an updated database of blocked domains at the request of users.
According to the bill, people who break the law will face fines of between 3,000 and 5,000 rubles (approximately US$48 to US$80), officials will face fines of up to 50,000 rubles (approximately US$800) and legal entities could be fined from 500,000 to 700,000 (almost US$8,019 to US$11,227), according to the Russian State Duma’s government website.
The draft law of the Code of Administrative Offences is associated with the law on anonymizers adopted at the end of the spring session of the State Duma in 2017.
Many Russian citizens use VPN and other Internet proxy services to access blocked content by routing their traffic through servers outside the country.
However, the Russian authorities have begun to take action against Internet freedoms by tightening controls on online services in recent years, citing concerns about the spread of extremist materials.
As a result, last year, Russian authorities made it mandatory for VPN and anonymizer services operating in the country to be registered in the state.
However, many VPNs and anonymizers have not yet been registered, which is why the country has introduced fines for search engines that provide links to prohibited sites, virtual private networks (VPNs) and anonymization tools.
Russian communications observer Roskomnadzor will also provide a Federal State Information System (FGIS) containing an updated list of websites and services banned in the country, and search engines must connect to FGIS within 30 days.
Those who do not connect to this system will also face fines similar to those detailed above.
Last month, Roskomnadzor also threatened Apple with the consequences of not removing the Telegram secure messaging application from its application store and blocking automatic notifications from being sent to local users who have already downloaded the application.