MOSCOW, August 26 (RAPSI) – Saint Petersburg lawmaker Vitaly Milonov, whose controversial gay propaganda initiative formed the basis for Russia’s federal law on the matter, has come out in favor of punishing the publication of false information via social media, RAPSI's sister agency Digit.ru reported Moday.

Milonov reportedly plans  to submit a draft law on such false information in early September.

According to the lawmaker, this particular type of false information should be distinguished from standard defamation. “We should establish such a notion…[relating to the dissemination of false information via social media] which may lead to grave economic and political consequences. Those who run communities (in social networks) and disseminate such [false information] usually write them off as jokes,” Digit.ru quotes Milonov as saying.

Milonov lambasted the dissemination of such information in July, according to Digit.ru, which quoted the politician as having stated: "Popular communities on the social networks and blogs have gained enormous power, but they lack control and bear no responsibility."

According to Milonov, false information – which he refers to as “fakes” – disseminated within social networks may affect the election campaign or undermine the value of some commodities and securities of a company.

Notably, in June the lawmaker has become the target of such “fakes” himself when he was named to be the leader of a campaign seeking to forbid foreign music in VKontakte, Russia’s biggest social network.