The State Duma approved fines for search engines for issuing links to prohibited sites

These amendments are a continuation of the previously adopted law on anonymizers. Let us recall that in the spring, methods of bypassing blocking were legally prohibited, and Internet search engines were obliged to stop issuing links to prohibited sites on user requests in the territory of the Russian Federation.

The amendments by deputies Maxim Kudryavtsev (United Russia), Nikolai Ryzhak (A Just Russia) and Alexander Yushchenko (CPRF) suggest that legal entities will be fined 500-700 thousand rubles. Specific citizens who violate the law will be fined 5 thousand rubles, and officials 50 thousand rubles.

Kudryavtsev told his colleagues how the law will operate from November. Roskomnadzor, he recalled, already maintains a special register of sites prohibited by law. Today, there are more than 70 thousand entries, and the list is expanding. Under the block, we recall, are both sites distributing "pirated" content, and much more dangerous ones - on the topic of drug sales, recruitment into terrorist organizations, methods of suicide.

Search engines and providers that receive a notice from Roskomnadzor will be required to take action within 30 days. If the service owners do not comply with the requirement, they themselves face blocking.

United Russia member Anton Gorelkin asked his colleague a logical question:

What to do if search engines not registered in the Russian Federation ignore the requirements?

To which Kudryavtsev responded:

Roskomnadzor will send a warning to a foreign search engine in English; if the rules are not followed, blocking will occur.

"So you're going to block Google?" clarified Communist Party deputy Alexei Kurinny. "They tried to introduce something similar in China. But our tourists who come from China say they easily bypass the bans. Although the country is no less technologically savvy than ours."

The author of the amendments drew attention to the fact that no one will block anything immediately. The search engine will be warned and given time to think. If no measures are taken, then access will be automatically blocked regardless of where the resource is located - in the Russian Federation or abroad.

Kudryavtsev clarified that Roskomnadzor “has specialized hardware and software systems that can diagnose this,” so it will be impossible to evade the law.

The relevant Duma committee on legislation and state building supported the bill, but will insist on an amendment: it should be written that fines for unintentional and first violations will be minimal.

Commenting on the amendments, Yandex previously stated:

Even if a link to a resource is found in search results, this does not mean that the user, by clicking on the link, will be able to access the resource if the resource has been blocked by the operator or in some other way.

Source: https://rg.ru/2017/10/12/gosduma-odobrila-shtrafy-za-vydachu-ssylok-na-zapreshchennye-sajty.html