Policy & Regulation Against Fake News: Case of Russia

The modern information society, which is characterized by many information flows from where the society can get information, is now increasingly concerned about the quality of information. A huge abundance of social media where people discuss a variety of issues from quite everyday topics to those that are crucial for society and the state. Moreover, people are highly inclined to trust information obtained online and through social media rather than from traditional mass media, such as radio and television. We can also say that public opinion is now being formed considerably through social media, which have quickly become an instrument of political influence on modern society. Frequent cases of mass disinformation of people through social networks, which led to serious consequences, forced modern states to seek for legal instruments to counter this phenomenon. Russia, following the global trend, also adopted several legislative decisions in 2019 to prevent the spread of fake news online, which caused a mixed reaction in the Russian society. In this paper, the authors attempt to evaluate these legislative measures in the context of international and foreign practice and to carry out their critical analysis, as well as to make their assumptions about the possible development of this practice and regulation on fake news.