The Kremlin pours cold water on a new Internet crackdown proposal

The Kremlin has reportedly withheld its approval for a draft law that would have saddled social networks with major new obligations. The State Duma passed a first reading of the legislation on April 12, and the deadline for accepting amendments for the law’s second reading expired on May 11. The parliamentary working group tasked with finalizing the law hasn’t even formed yet, and the Kremlin apparently doesn’t need the law “even in a revised form,” sources told the newspaper Kommersant.

The law in question would require every major social network toestablish legal representation in Russia, force these services to identify users by their telephone numbers, and require networks to remove “all illegal information,” “fake news,” and content promoting “pornography, obscene language, and cults of violence” — all within 24 hours.