Maksut Shadayev is the Russian Minister of Digital Development. Recently, during a government video conference, he was supposed to report to President Vladimir Putin about Law No. 281-F3, writes the German public media ARD.
"It provides for fines of up to 5,000 rubles for intentional access to extremist materials from the Ministry of Justice's register. Currently, 5,500 materials are registered there based on court decisions. Foreign platforms refuse to remove such materials at the request of our supervisory authority Roskomnadzor. Currently, over 20,000 of our inquiries are still awaiting a response."
"How do you think the law on searching for extremist information adopted by the State Duma will work in practice, after everything you just mentioned?", Putin asked. But Minister Shadayev remained adamant: "In practice, the authorities must prove that there was intent and that the user knew in advance that it was extremist material and that it was registered. In this sense, ordinary users can rest assured."
Anything could be "extremist"
If such content appears in the search bar but is not clicked on, there will be no punishment. But as is known - forbidden fruits are especially sweet, writes ARD and points out that, according to the communist opposition in parliament, this is how people are directed to unwanted content.
In today's Russia, everything can be classified as "extremist": for example, books that "promote same-sex relationships", or simply social media posts by opposition groups. Simply everything that the authorities consider "dangerous" - including films and music.
Moreover, the lists are constantly updated. Who can keep track of all this? Officially, about 40 percent of the population uses VPN connections to bypass Internet blocks. And this means that about 40 percent of citizens are potential violators of the law.
The controversial topic of "VPN connections"
The chairman of the State Duma Information Policy Committee, Sergei Boyarsky, said in this regard on parliamentary television: "We continue not to ban VPN connections. They can also help bypass harmful blockages imposed on us as a result of the sanctions policy. Many citizens, enterprises and organizations use VPNs for good purposes. However, if you use a VPN to download extremist information, this is an argument that you did it intentionally."
Meanwhile, penalties are already imposed for advertising VPNs. And this costs individuals ten times more, and legal entities even 100 times more than the fifty euro fine for "searching for extremist content".
The implementation in practice is unclear
Lawyer Kaloi Akhilgov commented on the new law on the independent YouTube channel Zhivoy Gvozd. "In fact, it is still unclear how all this will be implemented in practice. This means technical monitoring by internet providers. For example, I have a VPN on my phone. However, this does not mean that I use it constantly and search for extremist materials. How will they monitor this? And if a police officer asks for your phone, you have the right to refuse. Access to the device is tantamount to testimony, and a person has the right to refuse to give testimony," the lawyer explains.
The fact is that the Russian population is faced with a new law that opens the door to arbitrariness and isolates other opinions and content. Another "useful tool" in the hands of the Putin regime, ARD comments.
Author: Stefanie Markert (ARD)