Social media platforms to hand over user data in Russian crackdown on ‘spreading false information’

The lower house of the Russian parliament, the State Duma, has voted for an amendment which requires social media networks with more than 500,000 daily users to hand over user data to the FSB and Russian media regulator Roskomnadzor upon request, state-owned news agency TASS reported on Tuesday.

In the second and third reading of legislation regulating the provision of telecommunications services, deputies also accepted an amendment obliging any individual in Russia with over 10,000 subscribers on any social media platform to register with Roskomnadzor. Failure to do so would prohibit them from accepting donations or posting ads, Duma Deputy Alexander Khinshtein said on Telegram.

Another amendment banning so-called “trash streams”, the live broadcast of violent abuse typically carried out by male streamers on their girlfriends to earn tips from those watching, was also approved by the Duma, with such broadcasts to be punishable by fines of up to 1 million rubles (€10,500).

The State Duma also limited the number of SIM cards a person can have, with foreign citizens limited to 10 per person, while Russians may have no more than 20.

The new amendments have been introduced to “protect Russian citizens from online crime”, according to TASS, while Khinshtein said this was all part of what he called “the fight against the spread of false information”.