Russian fake news laws

The Russian fake news laws are a group[1][2] of federal laws prohibiting the dissemination of information considered "unreliable" by Russian authorities, establishing the punishment for such dissemination, and allowing the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media to extrajudicially block access to online media publishing such information. The most well known of these laws is the Federal Law of 4 March 2022 No.32-FZ enacted during the Russian invasion of Ukraine; the adoption of this law caused the mass exodus of foreign media from Russia and termination of the activity of independent Russian media.[3][4][5]

2019 Fake News Law

On 18 March 2019, Vladimir Putin signed the law No.31-FZ allowing the Roskomnadzor to block access to any online media in case of revealing an "unreliable information".[6] On the same day, Putin signed the law No.27-FZ establishing the administrative fines for natural persons and juridical persons for publication of "unreliable information".[7][8]

2019 Disrespect to Authorities Law

On 18 March 2019, Vladimir Putin signed the law No.28-FZ that punishes "'blatant disrespect online for the state, the authorities, the public, the Russian flag or the constitution" by a fine or by imprisonment for up to 15 days in the case of repeat offences, and the law No.30-FZ also allows the Roskomnadzor to request the removal of such "disrespectful statements".[9][10][11]

2020 COVID-19 Fake News Law

On 1 April 2020, Vladimir Putin signed the laws No.99-FZ and No.100-FZ establishing the administrative and criminal punishment for a dissemination of unreliable information about circumstances that threat to life and health of a citizen including epidemic, natural and technological disasters, emergency, and measures to ensure the security.[12][13][14] These laws were aimed at making illegal any doubts as to the nature of COVID-19 and the reasonableness of the measures to combat the epidemic.

2022 Laws Establishing War Censorship and Prohibiting Anti-War Statements and Calls for Sanctions

On 4 March 2022, in the background of the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin signed the laws No.31-FZ and No.32-FZ,[15][16] often referred to as the "fakes law" (Russian: закон о фейках).[17]

The bill amended the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which was supplemented by the article 207.3 "Public dissemination of knowingly false information about the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation." It introduced criminal liability for the dissemination of knowingly false information about the actions of the Russian Armed Forces, the maximum punishment under the article was 15 years in prison.[18][5]

The Chapter 29 of the Criminal Code of Russia was also supplemented by the articles 280.3 and 284.2. According to the article 280.3, the "discrediting" of Russian Armed Forces and its operations, including the calls for prevention of the use of Russian Armed Forces for the interests of the Russian Federation is punishable by imprisonment for a term of 5 years. The article 284.2 established responsibility for calls by a Russian citizen to impose sanctions against Russia, Russian citizens or Russian legal entities; such calls are punishable by imprisonment for a term of 3 years. The same actions were included into new articles 20.3.3 and 20.3.4 of the Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offenses. The first call against the use of Russian Armed Forces or the call for sanctions on Russia is punishable with a heavy fine according to the Code on Administrative Offenses, the second call is punishable with imprisonment according to the Criminal Code.[19]

On 25 March 2022, Vladimir Putin signed the laws No.62-FZ and No.63-FZ, that amended the article 20.3.3 of the Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offenses and the article 280.3 of the Criminal Code of Russia.[20][21] These amendments made punishable "discrediting" of exercise of the powers, carrying out by not only Russian Armed Forces but any Russian state body (including National Guard, Federal Security Service, Ministry of Emergency Situations, General Prosecutor's Office, Investigative Committee, Ministry of Foreign Affairs) outside Russian territory.[22]

Effect on media

Many Russian media outlets were forced to stop covering the Russian invasion of Ukraine because of this bill, including Colta.ru, "Snob" online magazine, Znak.com, "The Bell" online magazine, and Novaya Gazeta.[23][24][25] Dozhd said it was temporarily suspending operations due to the enactment of the aforementioned law.[26] Radio Liberty announced that it would stop working in Russia due to the new law on fakes, but would continue to cover events in Ukraine while abroad.[27] Also on the territory of the Russian Federation, Bloomberg News, CNN, NBC, CBS, ABC, BBC News, RTVE, EFE, RAI, TG5, ANSA stopped working.[28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36] According to Agentstvo, over 150 journalists left Russia by 7 March since Putin signed the bill into law.[37]

On 7 April 2022, to avoid prosecutions under the law, journalists from Novaya Gazeta announced the launch of Novaya Gazeta Europe, with its editor-in-chief, Kirill Martynov, stating that Novaya Gazeta Europe would be independent from Novaya Gazeta "both legally and in practice", with its newsroom consisting of staffers who have left Russia.[38]

Similar Belarusian law

On 14 December 2021, Alexander Lukashenko signed the law No.133-Z which amended the article 361 of the Criminal Code of Belarus. These amendments criminalized the calls for sanctions against Belarus, Belarusian legal and natural persons and established the penalty of imprisonment for a term up to 6 years for such calls. The calls addressing foreign countries and the dissemination of such calls are punishable by imprisonment for a term of 3 to 10 years. The same calls committed with the use of media or the Internet are punishable for a term of 4 to 12 years. This bill had been adopted in Belarus against the background of the ongoing political crisis in the country.[39][40]

See also

References
  1. Samorodova, Elina (2020). "Особенности современного регулирования фейковых новостей: российский и зарубежный опыт". Mediascope (in Russian). Moscow (3). doi:10.30547/mediascope.3.2020.4. ISSN 2074-8051. S2CID 242888902. Archived from the original on 2022-03-18. Retrieved 2022-03-18.
  2. "Fake-news и пандемия: как законодательство борется с дезинформацией" (in Russian). Pravo.ru. 26 June 2020.
  3. Galayda, Ekaterina. "Срок за невнимательность: Чем опасен для СМИ новый закон о фейках". Национальная Служба Новостей - НСН (in Russian). Retrieved 2022-03-14.
  4. "Держдума ухвалила закон 'про фейки': в РФ саджатимуть за правду про війну". Ukrayinska Pravda (in Ukrainian). Archived from the original on 2022-03-14. Retrieved 2022-03-14.
  5. "Analysis | In Putin's Russia, 'fake news' now means real news". The Washington Post. 11 March 2022. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on 2022-03-15. Retrieved 2022-03-14.
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  7. "О внесении изменений в Кодекс Российской Федерации об административных правонарушениях". Federal Law No. 27-FZ of 18 March 2019 (in Russian). State Duma.
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  13. "О внесении изменений в Уголовный кодекс Российской Федерации и статьи 31 и 151 Уголовно-процессуального кодекса Российской Федерации". Federal Law No. 100-FZ of 1 April 2020 (in Russian). State Duma. Archived 16 March 2022 at the Wayback Machine
  14. "Путин утвердил штрафы за нарушение карантина и фейки о коронавирусе" (in Russian). RBK. 1 April 2020. Archived from the original on 24 May 2021. Retrieved 16 March 2022.
  15. "О внесении изменений в Кодекс Российской Федерации об административных правонарушениях". Federal Law No. 31-FZ of 4 March 2022 (in Russian). State Duma. Archived 12 March 2022 at the Wayback Machine
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  20. "О внесении изменений в статьи 8.32 и 20.3.3 Кодекса Российской Федерации об административных правонарушениях". Federal Law No. 62-FZ of 25 March 2022 (in Russian). State Duma.
  21. "О внесении изменений в Уголовный кодекс Российской Федерации и статьи 150 и 151 Уголовно-процессуального кодекса Российской Федерации". Federal Law No. 63-FZ of 25 March 2022 (in Russian). State Duma.
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