MOSCOW, April 5 (RAPSI) – The State Duma has passed in the first reading a bill proposing to block information defaming a citizen or a company, the database of the lower house of parliament reads.

Earlier, the State Duma Committee on Security and Counteracting Corruption recommended to adopt the bill.

According to the bill, if a person disseminates defamatory information and does not voluntary remove it within a certain time, a court may ask authorities to restrict access to a website in question.

Authors of the bill note that Russian citizens have a right to request removal of defamatory information against them after its publication online, but specifics of the Internet require special mechanisms to make that possible.