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Russian watchdog to restrict access to websites spreading coronavirus misinformation

Notifications have been sent to website owners and hosting providers

MOSCOW, March 4. /TASS/. Russia’s media watchdog Roskomnadzor will restrict access to online resources spreading coronavirus misinformation, the watchdog said in a statement.

"Roskomnadzor has received a request from the Prosecutor General’s Office, which contains a number of links to posts on social media, including the VKontakte and Facebook networks, related to the spread of the novel coronavirus," the statement reads. "According to the Prosecutor General’s Office, socially relevant information that those resources contain is unreliable, which is why it creates the risk of public order disturbances and impedes the operation of retail facilities," the watchdog added.

The media watchdog pointed out that work was underway to restrict access to such websites and include the relevant links in a register of illegal content. In addition, notifications have been sent to website owners and hosting providers.

Earlier on Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with cabinet members that bogus stories about the scope of the coronavirus spread in the country were mostly coming from overseas though nothing extraordinary was actually happening. According to Putin, "these bogus stories are clearly aimed at sowing panic," and authorities need to provide reliable information to the country’s people in order to thwart such attempts.