The Federal Mass Media Inspection Service has put the IP address of a blog service belonging to Google on the "blacklist" of Internet sites containing prohibited information.
Including Blogspot.ru — which contains information including Gmail.com user files — in the list published on Zapret-info.gov.ru constitutes the third time that websites related to major Internet firms are among banned online sources, Vedomosti reported Monday.
Vladimir Pikov, spokesman for the mass media service, said the inclusion of Google's IP address in the list of banned websites was caused by a "a program glitch."
"It was urgently removed from the list at 11 a.m.," he added.
Pikov said that one of Google's sources may contain prohibited information and will be checked further.
Previously, the Federal Mass Media Inspection Service quickly removed Google websites from the list, as happened in the case of the YouTube video-hosting service, which was banned days earlier.
A procedure for banning Web content that promotes suicide, drug use or the distribution of child pornography came into effect on Nov. 1.
If an entire website appears on the blacklist, this establishes the legal framework to compel Internet service providers to block the entire site, industry experts have said.
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