Roskomnadzor, Russia's telecommunications regulator, has blocked Alphabet's Google News news aggregator and blocked access to the news.google.com domain because it provided access to "unreliable information" about the war in Ukraine.
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“Based on a request from the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office, Roskomnadzor has restricted access to the News.Google Internet service in the country,” the Russian Internet monitoring agency said.
"The mentioned US Internet news source provided access to numerous publications and materials containing unreliable, publicly significant information about the course of the special military operation in Ukraine," the Russian agency said.
This decision follows Russian President Vladimir Putin signing a law making it illegal to spread "fake news" about the Russian military's operations in Ukraine, introducing prison sentences of up to 15 years.
Earlier this month, Roskomnadzor asked Google to stop advertising campaigns spreading misinformation about Russia's military operation in Ukraine in YouTube videos.
In response, Google took action against disinformation campaigns about Russia's invasion and blocked YouTube channels belonging to Russia Today (RT) and Sputnik in Europe at the request of the European Union.
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Roskomnadzor protested YouTube's decision, demanding the immediate lifting of all restrictions on access to official Russian media accounts (including RT and Sputnik) across Europe.
Twitter, Instagram and Facebook were also blocked
On February 26, the telecommunications regulator warned independent Russian media outlets (e.g. Ekho Moskvy, InoSMI, Mediazona, New Times, Dozhd, Svobodnaya Pressa, Krym. Realii, Novaya Gazeta, Journalist, and Lenizdatnot) not to spread false information about the shelling of Ukrainian cities, and to stop calling the “ongoing military operation” in Ukraine an attack or invasion.
Earlier this month, Russia also blocked Instagram a week after blocking social networks Facebook and Twitter, following demands from the Prosecutor General's Office.
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Roskomnadzor also blocked access to several foreign news agencies, some of which were designated as foreign agents, including Voice of America, BBC, DW, and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, accusing them of spreading false news about the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
Information source: bleepingcomputer.com
