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Chisinau Prepares Bill Allowing to Block Websites, Social Media Accounts - Opposition

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Moldovan authorities are preparing a bill that will allow the blocking of websites, channels and accounts on social media, a spokesman for Moldovan opposition political bloc Podeda (Victory), Veaceslav Jukov, said on Tuesday.
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Earlier in the day, the country’s authorities annulled a broadcasting license held by Moldova’s Media Resurse company which owned two Russian language broadcasters, Orhei TV and TV6, Moldovan news outlet NewsMaker reported.

"The Moldovan government is considering a law which presupposes the suspension and even elimination of websites, as well as blocking channels and accounts on social media. The new legislation provides measures to control and manage the information space ," Jukov wrote on Telegram.

In 2023, Moldovan authorities blocked access to 31 websites, including 21 managed from Russia, saying that they had been used in an "information war" against Kishinev. Apart from the Russian information sources, Kishinev has also banned websites of Moldovan broadcasters Orizont TV, Prime TV, Publika TV, Canal 2, and Canal 3, among others.
Earlier in 2023, Moldovan President Maia Sandu said that Moldova would create a national center for informational defense and combating propaganda symbolically named Patriot, which would protect Moldovan citizens from disinformation and manipulation at a national level. The new center will counter Russia's alleged information attacks as well as deal with "traitors to the homeland" who are allegedly blocking Moldova's attempts to integrate into the European Union, Sandu added.
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