Most notably, "Facebook" and "YouTube" .. Russia is giving way to blocking social networking sites

Today, Russian lawmakers took a step further to allow regulators to block internet platforms such as Facebook and YouTube if they are deemed to have censored content produced by Russians.

Russia's House of Representatives, which passed a bill in a third reading, said in a media statement that authorities could target the platforms if they were proven to limit information based on nationality and language.

The State Duma added that Internet sites could also be punished "in the event of discrimination against Russian media content."

In an explanatory note attached to the bill, its authors wrote that the authorities had received complaints this year from the Russian media that their accounts were censored by "foreign internet platforms Twitter, Facebook and YouTube."

Earlier this year, US tech giants began adding a label to feature state media.

The legislation now needs to get approval from the Russian Federation Council before President Vladimir Putin can sign the law, and these steps are cosmetic.

In recent years, the Kremlin has intensified its efforts to control the Russian portion of the Internet under the pretext of combating extremism on the network.

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