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Again, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has found a violation of the right to freedom of expression on the Internet in Russia (see also Vladimir Kharitonov v. Russia, OOO Flavus and Others v. Russia, Bulgakov v. Russia and Engels v. Russia reported in Iris 2020:8). In a defamation case, the domestic judicial authorities have failed to establish convincingly and in conformity with the principles embodied in Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) that there had been a pressing social need to impose a high amount of damages to be paid by an online news platform for...

In four judgments of 23 June 2020, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) found that the blocking of websites and media platforms in Russia had violated the right to freedom of expression and information as guaranteed by Article 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR). The cases concern different types of blocking measures, including collateral blocking (where the IP address that was blocked was shared with other sites), excessive blocking (where the whole website was blocked because of a single page or file) and wholesale blocking of media outlets for their news coverage. One...

On 27 May 2020, the State Duma adopted amendments on blocking mobile apps that violate copyright and related rights. The bill was introduced in the State Duma in 2018 by a group of deputies. According to the bill, Roskomnadzor (Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media) shall determine the owner of the information resource where the infringing app is located within three working days after receiving a corresponding request from the rightsholder. Roscomnadzor shall then submit an electronic notification of copyright infringement to the owner...

On 31 March 2020, both the lower and upper houses of the Russian Parliament adopted amendments to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation; these amendments were immediately promulgated by the president and entered into force on 1 April. They introduce two new articles generally associated with the COVID-19 pandemic: Article 207.1 “Public dissemination of knowingly false information about circumstances that pose a threat to the life and safety of citizens” and Article 207.2 “Public dissemination of knowingly false socially significant information, entailing grave consequences.”...

On 10 April, the Russian Government published a Resolution "On amendments to the list of sectors of the Russian economy the worst affected in the deteriorating situation with the spread of a new coronavirus infection." According to this document, the section "Culture, leisure and entertainment" was supplemented with "activities in the field of film exhibition." This decision was reached with the direct participation of the Association of Cinema Owners. It should be noted that the Minister of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov called on the government to include...