Russia's upper house has approved a censorship law imposing fines for accessing 'extremist' content. This law, effective upon presidential signature, also penalizes the promotion of VPNs, which are critical for bypassing state censorship. Protests occurred outside parliament, marking a rare public dissent, with Boris Nadezhdin highlighting the progression from website bans to restrictions on search capabilities as indicative of a drift towards authoritarianism reminiscent of Orwell's dystopia. The law implicates that merely searching for certain online materials will incur administrative fines up to $64, emphasizing increasing governmental control over information access.
On July 25, Russia's upper house approved a new censorship law that introduces fines for anyone caught searching for or accessing content officially labeled as "extremist." This law also imposes penalties for promoting VPN services, tools many Russians rely on to bypass censorship.
Boris Nadezhdin, a liberal candidate barred from the 2024 presidential race, remarked, "The first stage was banning websites. Now they're banning people from searching the internet. This is already close to thoughtcrime," referring to Orwell's warnings of totalitarianism.
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