Russian President Signs Laws on Regulation of Messengers, Banning Anonymizers

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed laws on Sunday, which regulate the use of messengers in Russia and put a ban on using anonymizers, according to the government portal of legal information.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — In line with the law on messengers, the identification of users should be carried out via a mobile phone number.

It is specified that the messengers are obliged to prevent the dissemination of information violating the legislation of Russia. If a messenger is not fulfilling this commitment, Russian authorities are able to shut the access to the service.

The law will enter into force on January 1, 2018.

As for the anonymizers services, the law implies that it is illegal to use information systems and software to get an access to the internet resources that are restricted on Russian territory.

The law will enter into force on November 1, 2017.

Russian authorities have been putting efforts into blocking extremist content as the Daesh terrorist group (banned in Russia) has been particularly active online, recruiting young people to fight in Syria and Iraq.