The United Nations has approved a Russian-backed cybercrime treaty that has alarmed America and Western powers. Pictured: Russian President Vladimir Putin

The United Nations has approved a Russian-backed cybercrime treaty that has alarmed America and Western powers who fear it will censor the internet.

The General Assembly approved the resolution, sponsored by Russia and backed by China, on Friday.

The movement will now set up a committee of international experts in 2020.

The panel will work to set up 'a comprehensive international convention on countering the use of information and communications technologies for criminal purposes,' according to the resolution.

America, Western powers and other rights groups have already warned against the move as they fear that the language is code for legitimising crackdowns on expression.

China already heavily restricts internet searches to avoid topics that are sensitive to its communist leadership as well as news sites with critical coverage.

A number of countries have increasingly tried to follow suit and crack down on internet usage.

India is set to cut off online access in Kashmir in August after it stripped autonomy to the Muslim-majority region.

Iran is also taking much of the country offline as it cracked down on protests in November.

One U.S. official said: 'It is precisely our fear that (a new convention) would allow the codification at an international and global level of these types of controls that's driving our opposition and our concerns about this resolution.'

Cherith Norman Chalet, U.S. deputy ambassador, told the assembly before the vote that 'this resolution will undermine international cooperation to combat cyber-crime at a time when enhanced coordination is essential.

'There is no consensus among member states on the need or value of drafting a new treaty.

'It will only serve to stifle global efforts to combat cybercrime.'

An increasing number of countries are also currently attempting to crack down on internet usage including India and Iran (stock image)

The ambassador alongside the Finnish representative speaking for the European Union both stressed that the UN's existing intergovernmental expert group on cybercrime is already tackling the question of whether a new treaty is needed.

'It is wrong to make a political decision on a new treaty before cybercrime experts can give their advice,' Ms Chalet said, adding that the resolution 'prejudges' and 'will undermine' the experts' work.

Russia's representative underscored that the resolution requires that the new committee must take into account the results of the work of the expert group on cybercrime, expected next year, which Moscow supports.

They said that substantive work on the new convention will begin in 2021.