The new law requiring Russian bloggers to register as media entities and hold themselves to the same standards as a full media organization has come into effect today.

First signed info force by President Vladamir Putin in May this year, it’s now applicable to all blogs that manage to attract more than 3,000 unique visitors per day. Essentially, what this means is a bigger workload for any bloggers that wish to carry on running the sites in their spare time.

From today, any blogs covered by the new law will need to register with the relevant authorities, according to RT.com. The report adds that the law notes that the physical location of the authors makes no difference to the application of it – if it’s written in Russian and targetting a Russian audience it will need to comply or be blocked from access within the country.

In addition to registering with authorities, bloggers also now have more responsibility to fact-check their blogs before publishing. Bloggers are also not allowed to use obscene language or produce material that incites criticism from its online audience.

If any individual bloggers don’t comply with the law, they can be slapped with a fine of between 10,000 and 30,000 rubles ($280 – $840) and media organizations face fines of up to 500,000 rubles, which is around $15,000.

➤ Legislative restrictions on popular bloggers come into force in Russia [RT.com]

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