Russia’s media watchdog has added six cryptocurrency-related websites to it lists of banned internet sources.
According to a report by Bitcoin.com, Russia’s Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information, Technology and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor), has banned six new cryptocurrency websites as of Mar. 5. The websites, including Bits.media, range from cryptocurrency exchanges to news outlets. The ruling was officially passed by the Nyandomsky District Court in Arkhangelsk Oblast and issued a day later.
Roskomnadzor has been targeting cryptocurrency websites since 2015, with news outlets Coinspot and CoinTelegraph being affected within the last several months. The regulatory body has cited the Central Bank of Russia’s (CBR) stance against virtual currencies and the prohibition on “money surrogates” as grounds for censorship.
However, there has been pushback from Russian courts over the last several years. In March 2018 the Saint Petersburg City Court struck down a ban on 40 websites related to cryptocurrency. Russia’s Supreme Court also overturned a decision to block crypto portal Bitcoininfo.ru in an April 2019 ruling.
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