Russia’s unofficial censor to stop looking into ‘extremist’ activity online

Russia’s Safe Internet League is to stop looking into cases of “extremist” activity online, Yekaterina Mizulina, the organisation’s head, announced on Tuesday, citing a recently adopted law prohibiting searches for “extremist” material.

“We will no longer look into cases of extremist activities, terrorism or threats of attacks on schools,” Mizulina wrote, adding that the organisation would continue to deal with cases relating to “child pornography, drug sales, incitement to suicide and animal cruelty”.

Funded by controversial ultranationalist billionaire Konstantin Malofeyev, the Safe Internet League was theoretically set up to protect children online, but has in reality grown to become an integral part of Russia’s censorship apparatus.

On 31 July, Vladimir Putin signed legislation into law allowing anybody “deliberately” searching for material declared to be extremist by the Justice Ministry, such as LGBT-related content or YouTube videos by Kremlin critics, to be fined between 3,000 rubles (€32) and 5,000 rubles (€54).

Senator Andrey Klishas stated that the law would only be applied to individuals under criminal investigation, and not to the general public, assuring citizens that nobody would “stop people and check their phones”.

Mizulina has criticised the new law, saying it would paralyse the work of the Safe Internet League, and deputies from the Communist Party, New People and A Just Russia parties also voted against the law in the State Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament.