Humor website deletes ‘insults’ against the Russian flag, on orders from the federal censor

The humor website risovach.ru has agreed to remove an image that allegedly insulted Russia’s state symbols, acquiescing to orders from the federal censor Roskomnadzor, which acted at the request of the Attorney General’s Office. According to regulators, the image contained obscenities and insults aimed at Russian citizens. As a result, Russia’s censor has removed risovach.ru from its registry of prohibited information.

Earlier this month, Roskomnadzor issued similar demands to Facebook and Instagram, involving images that also allegedly insulted the Russian flag. In both cases, the content was deleted, though it’s unclear if the censorship was the result of Russian government pressure or the websites’ own internal policy enforcement.