MOSCOW. Oct 20 (Interfax) - Experts in the Russian Security Council have proposed that further measures be adopted to fight fakes published on the Internet, the council's spokesperson Yevgeny Anoshin said.
The Council's scientific board met to consider countering the online spread of false information that damages national security.
"It was proposed to increase the personal responsibility of the owners and users of information resources for posting knowingly false information which in the public domain causes damage to the security and national interests of the Russian Federation," Anoshin said.
The board also discussed possible creation of "specialist software/hardware systems, including the use of artificial intelligence systems" to automate the monitoring of the web and promptly detect a source of fake news, he said.
"The Security Council experts stressed that the current level of the advancement of information technologies substantially broadens the potential scale of a proliferation of destructive content aimed at provoking all kinds of threats and public intimidation and ensures the possibility of influencing various social groups remotely," Anoshin said.
On April 1, 2020, Russia introduced Criminal Code Article 207.1, which makes it a criminal offense to publicly spread knowingly false information regarding circumstances, putting lives and public safety at risk. The offense is penalized by a fine of between 300,000 and 700,000 rubles, or compulsory or correctional labor, or up to three years' of restricted freedom.
At present, such circumstances include natural or man-made emergencies, accidents, disasters, natural disasters, epidemics, and any other circumstances which result or may result in casualties, damage to the public health and the environment, significant material losses, and impaired operation of vital public facilities.