Putin signs law on penalties for searching extremist content online and advertising VPNs

(Patria) - Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law introducing fines for intentionally searching for extremist content on the internet and advertising VPN services, TASS reported.

According to the new rules, offenders will pay from 3,000 to 5,000 (30-60 dollars) rubles for searching for extremist materials from the relevant list, including using a VPN. For advertising VPNs, households will pay a fine of 50,000 to 80,000 (600-1,000 dollars) rubles, officials - from 80,000 to 150,000 rubles, and companies - from 200,000 to 500,000 rubles.

Minister of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media Maksut Shadayev previously said that the new norms will not affect laypeople - search engines will only provide people's queries to the Ministry of Internal Affairs within the framework of criminal proceedings. He said that law enforcement officers will have to prove intent and that the user knew it was extremist material from the relevant list.

Putin also signed a law that considers the use of VPNs when committing a criminal offense as an aggravating circumstance.

Article 63 of the Criminal Code has been amended, which lists aggravating circumstances. Now, criminal offenses committed "using hardware and software tools to access information resources, information and telecommunication networks, access to which is restricted," will carry stricter penalties, and the law will enter into force on September 1st.