MOSCOW, April 12 (RAPSI) – A bill on fines of up to 50 million rubles (about $810,000) for social networks refusing to remove false and illegal information passed its first reading in the lower house of Russian parliament on Thursday, according to the State Duma database.

The bill prescribes that social networks’ owners must restrict access to illegal information such as stirring up national, racial, religious hatred and propagating wars upon users’ applications.

Moreover, Russia’s communications watchdog Roskomnadzor would be eligible to demand removal of false information concerning socially important matters from social media within 24 hours, according to the initiative.

Failure to remove illegal and fake information would result in penalties for social media owners: individuals would face fines ranging from 3 to 5 million rubles ($48,500 – 81,000) while companies holding a social network would be punished with fines varying from 30 to 50 million rubles ($485,500 – 810,000), according to the bill’s authors.