Russian lawmakers on Thursday advanced a bill that would outlaw opening or searching for content online judged “extremist,” such as songs glorifying Ukraine and material by feminist rock band Pussy Riot.
Critics say the planned law, which has drawn rare criticism from across Russia’s political spectrum, would stifle internet freedom.
Russian authorities already block access to thousands of websites accused of hosting “extremist” content.
The latest proposed legislation threatens fines of up to 5,000 rubles ($64) on anyone found to have deliberately searched for or gained access to material listed as extremist by the justice ministry.
More than 5,000 entries are on the list, including web pages, political slogans, books, artworks and music albums.
Among them are songs glorifying Ukraine, blog posts by feminist rock band Pussy Riot and information on the Wikipedia page for dynamite.
Deputies in the lower house State Duma backed the bill by 283 votes to 22 in its second reading.
It is not clear whether the bill has the support of the government.
The Kremlin said the proposal needed “more detailed explanations” to allay people’s concerns.
“I am not familiar with the initiative by the deputies,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in response to a question from AFP.
– ‘Attack on basic rights’ –
The bill requires three readings and approval by Russia’s upper house before President Vladimir Putin can sign it into law.
During Thursday’s second reading, lawmaker Alexander Teterdinko of the governing United Russia party said the legislation would only affect those who “deliberately” search for extremist material.
“That is to say, if you Google something and material appears in the search results, but you do not click on it, do not read it, do not use it in any way… you will not fall under this article,” he said.
Other lawmakers, however, expressed concern over the apparent lack of safeguards.
The bill was originally about tightening regulation over shipping clerks, but evolved as lawmakers inserted amendments.
Deputy State Duma Speaker Vladislav Davankov called components of the bill an “attack on the basic rights of citizens”. Russia’s internet safety tsar warned the legislation would stifle her department’s work.
The bill would also ban advertising for virtual private networks (VPNs) and impose fines for transferring SIM cards to another person, both ways of browsing with more privacy.
Margarita Simonyan, the editor-in-chief of pro-Kremlin broadcaster Russia Today, said the legislation would make it impossible to investigate and expose extremist groups.
“I hope there will be amendments,” she said on Telegram.
