Russia's communications regulator has been alerted to an extraordinary number of "fake news" shared online after the coronavirus pandemic began, a senior prosecutor said Thursday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th July, 2020) Russia's communications regulator has been alerted to an extraordinary number of "fake news" shared online after the coronavirus pandemic began, a senior prosecutor said Thursday.
"The pandemic has led to a significant rise in the number of fake stories posted to the internet... Roskomnadzor has received 153 requests to block false content," Alexander Buksman, deputy prosecutor general, said.
The watchdog received only six such requests during the same period last year, the official added. He said more than 4,000 websites had been taken down and false stories had been deleted from 25,000 pages this year.
The Prosecutor General's Office estimated in June that two-thirds of online stories deleted after they were deemed fake concerned the outbreak. Many of them were conspiracy theories claiming the virus does not exist or challenging the official tally.
