Russian child-pornography complaints hit 5,000 on first day under new Internet law
| Publisher | Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |
| Publication Date | 2 November 2012 |
| Cite as | Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Russian child-pornography complaints hit 5,000 on first day under new Internet law, 2 November 2012, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/509b8b0ec.html [accessed 1 June 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
November 02, 2012
The Russian-language edition of the online encyclopedia Wikipedia made itself temporarily unavailable to users to protest the law on the Internet that has gone into force..
Russia says it has received 5,000 reports of child pornography on the Internet in the first 24 hours under a new law blacklisting websites for inappropriate content.
Officials at Roskomnadzor, the federal monitoring service for mass media and communications, said on November 2 they were surprised by the large number of complaints.
But they added that nearly 96 percent of the warnings proved to be unfounded.
A spokesman said 10 Internet service providers had already been asked to contact the owners of offending sites and remove the content within 48 hours.
Russian officials say the law is aimed at protecting children from pornography and web content encouraging drug use or suicide.
But activists say the new law may be used as a pretext for shutting down websites seen as critical of the government.
Based on reporting by Interfax and Lenta.ru
Link to original story on RFE/RL website
