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Russia may block access to YouTube due to Innocence of Muslims film there

he minister said that the ban would comply with the law on protection of children from hazardous information, which would come into force from November 1

Photo EPA/ITAR-TASS

Photo EPA/ITAR-TASS

MOSCOW, September 18 (Itar-Tass) —— Russia may close access to a popular video service on the Internet because of scandalous Innocence of Muslims film placed there, Russia’s Minister of Communications and Mass Media Nikolai Nikiforov wrote in his Twitter blog.

The minister said that the ban would comply with the law on protection of children from hazardous information, which would come into force from November 1.

“Funny or not, but because of this video, we may block fully YouTube in the territory of Russia on November 3-5,” he wrote.

The document, which comes into force in November, orders establishment of unified registrar of domain names and net addresses, which allow identifying sites, which contain forbidden information. Sites on the “black list” would be blocked. If this material is confirmed ion Russia is extremist, and the Google company, which owns YouTube, does not limit access to the video for Russian users, the users in Russia will not be having access to YouTube’s entire service.

“The law will be effective for everyone,” the minister said.

On Monday, Roskomnadzor recommended to all communication operators to block access to the scandalous film, and to mass media to try not promoting it.

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