Almost two-thirds of Russians support Internet censorship, a report by independent pollster the Levada Center revealed Friday.
Some 60 percent of those surveyed said that they felt online censorship was “necessary,” while 25 percent disagreed, the Interfax news agency reported.
Forty-four percent of respondents also disagreed with the idea that restrictions on certain sites could be used to infringe civil liberties. Thirty-two percent said that legislation could be used against activists or to restrict rights.
An overwhelming 90 percent said that they trusted news distributed by Russia's main news channels, while 73 percent saw the Internet as a credible source of information.
At the same time, almost half of Russians — 47 percent — said that the media “did not give the whole picture” or “held something back” when reporting on current affairs. Forty-four percent of respondents said that the media wanted to “distract from important events by focusing on other subjects.” Forty-three percent of those surveyed disagreed.
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