The government has adopted a resolution giving Roskomnadzor the power to directly intervene in Internet governance

Slowing down access to networks is established as a security measure, although it is, in fact, a form of sanction.

In connection with the slowdown of Twitter, organized by Roskomnadzor on March 10, 2021, we became aware that on February 12, 2020, the Government adopted the Resolution "On Approval of the Rules for the Centralized Management of the Public Communications Network". Based on this document, the agency was able to reduce the speed of access to photos and videos on the social network, and also announced its readiness to completely block it in case of failure to fulfill its requirements.

Referring in its official statement to the Federal Law "On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection", the RKN included the dissemination of information by a social network in the "list of threats". The so-called "sovereign Internet law" indeed prescribes technical measures to protect the Russian segment of the Internet from certain threats, but there is no list of threats in the Federal Law - it is present in the Decree adopted in February. According to paragraph 5 of the Decree, the threat to the security of the functioning of the Internet in Russia is understood, among other things, as "violation of the ability of the communication network to withstand <...> the impacts associated with the dissemination of information on the Internet, access to which is subject to restriction in accordance with the law Russian Federation".

According to paragraph 13 of the Decree, measures to counter such threats include "changing the routes of telecommunication messages." It is to this method of reducing the speed of access to the Twitter network, according to media reports, that the department resorted.

We doubt the legitimacy of such a method of dealing with non-compliance with the requirements of Roskomnadzor. For comparison, partial or complete restriction of access to the resource is provided for by amendments made at the end of last year to the Federal Law "On measures to influence persons involved in violations of fundamental human rights and freedoms, the rights and freedoms of citizens of the Russian Federation." The reason for such interference, according to the law, may be the restriction of either the dissemination of socially significant information in Russia, or the right of Russian citizens to freely seek, receive, transmit, produce and distribute information in any legal way. Thus, for platforms that restrict the rights of Russian citizens, traffic slowdown is set as a sanction. Consequently, traffic slowdown is considered by the legislator as a sanction. But in connection with the non-removal of illegal content, the slowdown is provided only in the Government Decree as a technical measure, while any sanctions should be expressly established in the law.

Sources

• Roskomnadzor took measures to protect Russian citizens from the influence of illegal content // Roskomnadzor. 2021. March 10.
• Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of February 12, 2020 N 127 "On approval of the Rules for the centralized management of a public communication network" // Guarantee. February 12, 2020