The Russian government published Monday a decree granting censorship powers to the state media regulator to block any websites containing “LGBT propaganda,” a definition that includes all gay, lesbian and trans adult content.
Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday signed explicitly homophobic legislation banning public expression of LGBTQ identity — termed “propaganda about nontraditional sexual relations” — including all adult content featuring gay, lesbian and trans sexualities.
A year after Vladimir Putin announced sweeping measures to regulate internet content, a Russian court today fined Google nearly $100 million for “systematic failure to remove banned content,” which encompasses both political and social messaging of which the Moscow government does not approve, and almost all adult material online.
New proposals by Russia’s main political body charged with regulating media would “see X-rated material shuttered away in an adults-only area on the internet” according to what the government would determine is “illegal” or “not prohibited by law.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed several laws last week to increase state control over information online, including one that introduces crippling fines for failing to remove “banned material.”
