They want to increase fines for criticizing the authorities on the Internet several times

The scandalous bill on penalties for fake news and disrespect for the authorities of senators Andrei Klishas and Lyudmila Bokova has not yet passed the second reading, but deputies are already proposing to tighten it by raising fines several times.

More. Amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses provide for an increase in fines several times, and for citizens - more than an order of magnitude, follows from a TASS report .

• The deputies propose to raise the minimum fine for insulting public authorities and state symbols by 30 times - from 1,000 to 30,000 rubles;
• For citizens, the maximum fine will be 100 thousand rubles instead of 30 thousand.
• Penalties for disseminating fakes in the media and on the Internet that pose a threat to the health and life of citizens, property, the threat of riots, interference or shutdown of transport, communications, industry and other infrastructure, for citizens are proposed to be increased by 10–20 times (up to 30–100 thousand rubles), for officials - two to four times (up to 60-200 thousand rubles), and for legal entities - to halve (up to 200-500 thousand rubles).

Quote: “A fine of 500 rubles, 1000 rubles means nothing to many citizens. But if a person paid 100,000 rubles, he will remember it for the rest of his life, ”one of the authors of the amendments, United Russia deputy Anatoly Vyborny, is convinced.

Banks are now included in the list of important infrastructure. Commercial structures also react to fakes, “because the consequences can be the most catastrophic,” says one of the authors of the amendments.

If the fake actually affected the operation of the infrastructure, and also if it is a repeated offense, the fine for individuals will be up to 300 thousand rubles, for legal entities - up to 1 million rubles. If the infrastructure stops working, harm to health and property is caused, or a person dies, citizens face a fine of 300-400 thousand rubles, companies - from 1 million to 1.5 million rubles.

Context. A package of bills on combating fake news and insulting state symbols was submitted to the State Duma on December 12 and adopted in the first reading on January 24. The second reading will take place no earlier than the end of February: both the HRC and Internet companies have complaints about the document.

Sergei Smirnov