Vladimir Putin signs sweeping Internet-censorship bills

Enlarge / Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks in Moscow on March 14, 2019. (credit: Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images)

President Vladimir Putin has tightened his grip on the Russian Internet Monday, signing two censorship bills into law. One bans "fake news" while the other makes it illegal to insult public officials.

Russia has never really been a liberal democracy. It lacks an independent judiciary, and the government has found a variety of techniques to harass and intimidate independent media in the country.

But the new legislation gives the Russian government more direct tools to censor online speech. Analyst Maria Snegovaya told The Washington Post that the legislation "significantly expands the repressive power of Russia's repressive apparatus."

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