Online media outlets can only be shut down for extremist comments left on their forums if they fail to comply with official requests to delete the comments, the Supreme Court ruled Tuesday, RIA-Novosti reported.
User posts on forums without moderation are to be treated the same way as live speeches on radio or television, for which the broadcasters cannot be held responsible, said Supreme Court deputy chief justice Vasily Nechayev.
The ruling only covers forums of web sites that are registered as media outlets.
Federal anti-extremist legislation allows courts to close media outlets that receive two warnings for extremist content, which includes promoting hatred based on ethnicity, social status and profession, as well as calling for the violent overthrow of the government.
Promoting extremism is punishable by up to three years in prison and up to five years if done through the mass media.
Prior to the Supreme Court's ruling, authorities had the option of shutting down online media outlets for comments on their forums, even if the comments were not endorsed by the editors.
Ura.ru, the biggest news web site in the Urals known for its critical coverage of local authorities, faced closure after receiving two warnings for extremism over forum comments in April 2009. Federal authorities have not pushed for its closure, and Ura.ru editors have called the situation a blackmail attempt by local officials.
In March 2009, Kemerovo prosecutors charged an opposition activist, Dmitry Solovyov, with hate speech for posting someone else’s critical comments about law enforcement officials on his blog.
In July 2008, the Syktyvkar City Court handed blogger Savva Terentyev a one-year suspended sentence for a controversial post saying police officers should be “burned at the stake” in city squares from time to time, “like in Auschwitz.”