MOSCOW, April 26. /TASS/. Russia’s media watchdog has blocked over 160,000 web pages containing false information about the special military operation since February 24, 2022, the agency reported on Wednesday.

"Roskomnadzor (the Russian Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology, and Mass Media - TASS) has blocked over 160,000 web pages containing falsehoods about the progress of the special military operation since February 24, 2022. <…> The enemy wants to flood the Russian segment of the Internet with false information. However, available legal and technical mechanisms allow us to counter these attempts," the media watchdog said in a message on its Telegram channel.

Moreover, since February 24, 2022, more than 4,300 pirated video services spreading ads with false information about the special military operation have been blocked. The media watchdog pointed out that these ads are created with the purpose of destabilizing Russian society and are being spread through pirated video services.

In addition, almost 3,500 mirror sites of anti-Russian resources have been blocked. "Once a day, on average, a big anti-Russian website creates a new mirror of the blocked site. To do this, they use hosts belonging to American IT-companies," the media watchdog explained. It also noted that after the mirror site is detected, it takes an average of three hours to block it.

The watchdog also added that the fake information was having a cumulative effect: it gradually created an alternative information reality around an individual. According to Roskomnadzor, this takes away from the ability to think critically, to take into account other points of view, as well as not adhering to informational hygiene.