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Kremlin bans discussion of coronavirus "fake news"
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/04/23/russia-bans-discussions-of-fake-coronavirus-news-a70083Russia’s Supreme Court has ruled it illegal to discuss “fake news” about the deadly coronavirus pandemic in public in addition to publishing it.
Facing public mistrust toward the country’s relatively low infection numbers at the time, Russia made spreading false information about Covid-19 punishable by up to five years in jail starting April 1.
In an explanatory note published Tuesday, the Supreme Court said the punishments extend to individuals who “not only use mass media and telecommunication networks, but also speak at meetings, rallies, distribute leaflets and hang posters.”
...
Putin has previously said that fake news reports about the coronavirus were being sent to Russia from abroad to spread panic.
Facing public mistrust toward the country’s relatively low infection numbers at the time, Russia made spreading false information about Covid-19 punishable by up to five years in jail starting April 1.
In an explanatory note published Tuesday, the Supreme Court said the punishments extend to individuals who “not only use mass media and telecommunication networks, but also speak at meetings, rallies, distribute leaflets and hang posters.”
...
Putin has previously said that fake news reports about the coronavirus were being sent to Russia from abroad to spread panic.
That's the kind of laws Russia passes all the time: Flexible laws without clear boundaries that can easily be used to slippery-slope into a crack-down on critics.
In a related story, Russia has a huge media-scandal right now, with a newspaper-editor of a major newspaper being publicly accused by his own journalists of censoring their reporting to curry favor with Putin.
