6 Oct 2022 21:46

Ekho website blocked permanently for repeated fake posts about special operation - Roskomnadzor

MOSCOW. Oct 6 (Interfax) - The Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor) has blocked an Ekho Moskvy website launched by the radio station's former employees, at the demand of the Prosecutor General's Office, for repeatedly posting false information (so-called fakes) regarding Russia's special operation in Ukraine, the regulator told Interfax on Thursday.

"On the basis of a demand received from the Prosecutor General's Office of Russia, pursuant to article 15.3-2 of the Law 'On information, information technologies and on the protection of information,' access to the information resource has been restricted on a permanent basis in relation to the repeated publication of prohibited content," Roskomnadzor said in reply to the agency's query.

"In particular, the resource systemically disseminated materials containing false information regarding the special military operation on Ukrainian territory, its form, methods of conducting hostilities, and victims among civilian population," the statement said.

The legal amendments, which gave the right to block a media outlet's websites for life, at the behest of the Prosecutor General's Office, for repeatedly publishing information deemed by the regulator to be false, came into force on July 14.

Thus, Ekho's is the first website known to have been blocked eternally for misinformation at the demand of the Prosecutor General's Office.