On 30 December 2020, the President of Russia signed Federal Law No. 482-FZ dated December 30, 2020 "On Amendments to the Federal Law" On Measures of Influence on Persons Involved in Violations of Fundamental Human Rights and Freedoms, Rights and Freedoms of Citizens of the Russian Federation. "
The largest Internet resources, including YouTube, Google and Twitter, may fall under this law.
The law introduces the concept of "owner of an information resource involved in the violation of fundamental human rights and freedoms, rights and freedoms of Russian citizens." According to the law, a violation of fundamental human rights and freedoms, the rights and freedoms of citizens of the Russian Federation is the restriction by the owner of the resource for the distribution of socially significant information by users on the territory of the Russian Federation on the basis of nationality, language, origin, property and official status, profession, place of residence and work, attitude to religion and (or) in connection with the imposition of sanctions by foreign states against the Russian Federation or the establishment of other restrictions.
The General Prosecutor of the Russian Federation or his deputies, in agreement with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, will be able to decide on assigning the owner of an Internet resource the status of “owner of an information resource involved in the violation of fundamental human rights and freedoms, rights and freedoms of Russian citizens”.
Within 24 hours from the date of receipt of such a decision, Roskomnadzor will enter information about the owner of the Internet resource into the list of resource owners involved in violations of fundamental human rights and freedoms, rights and freedoms of citizens of the Russian Federation. This list will be posted on the official website of Roskomnadzor.
Further, Roskomnadzor sends a warning to the owner of the resource about the need to stop the violation and to remove restrictions that violate the rights of users.
If the owner of the Internet resource has not removed the restrictions, Roskomnadzor may fully or partially restrict access to the corresponding resource.
Note that this bill was considered by the State Duma in the shortest possible time, since it was introduced only on December 19 after Roskomnadzor made a request to Google. The demands were related to the removal of restrictions from the Soloviev LIVE YouTube channel of journalist Vladimir Solovyov. According to Roskomnadzor, as a result of the actions of the video hosting, Solovyov's channel stopped appearing in the Trending section.
Find the text of the law here: http://publication.pravo.gov.ru/Document/View/0001202012300002?index=5&rangeSize=1