MOSCOW, August 1 (RAPSI) – After checking over 52,000 links to websites it was found out that 49,600 of the pages contained banned in Russia information on the methods of suicide or exhortations to commit suicide, the Russian consumer rights watchdog Rospotrebnadzor said in a statement on Wednesday.

The agency has been conducting the examination since December 1, 2012, the data revealed was accumulated over this period, the statement reads.

A rising number of materials sent for examination, Rospotrebnadzor believes, is an evidence that more individuals and organizations become aware of the necessity to turn to the agency’s expertize via its official website.

According to the statement, as before the bulk of banned information submitted to Rospotrebnadzor has been published on social  networks, including VKontakte, Instagram and Twitter, and on YouTube. 

Rospotrebnadzor says its involvement in cooperation with other agencies and departments has led to the development and execution of a number of action plans within the framework of various measures aimed at the protection of children using Internet. The measures are to be implemented until 2020. 

The agency says that the cooperation of governmental bodies and other stakeholders has resulted in a decline in the mortality rate caused by suicides as concerns the population of the Russian Federation in general, as well as minors.