The Russian Prosecutor General's Office is set to block websites inciting ‛“large-scale civil unrest,” “extremist activities” and participation in mass gatherings deemed to “undermine social order” within five days of their being reported, the Kommersant newspaper wrote Thursday citing a draft decree by Prosecutor General Yury Chaika on the prosecution service's website.
The decree is set to replace temporary regulations from June 2014, which stated that the office and state media watchdog Roskomnadzor would act on complaints related to incendiary online content “immediately,” but did not give a specific timeframe.
This has now been set at five days if a case is found “urgent,” and 30 days otherwise.
The author of the proposed amendments, deputy head of Russia's parliamentary committee on state security Andrei Lugovoi, said that the change was not related to ongoing protests by truck drivers against a new road toll collection system, as the situation “was unlikely to prove critical,” according to Kommersant.
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