Roskomnadzor blocked Bits.media in Russia – Bits Media

On Thursday, 30 june, the Bits.media website has ceased to be available to users of most major Russian providers. The editors found out, that the reason is the blocking of Roskomnadzor. The agency has added unknown pages/website page to the register of prohibited resources. Editorial Bits.media considers the blocking illegal and will challenge the decision.

Причиной блокировки значится решение Волжского районного суда города Саратова. С иском 31 марта обратилась прокуратура, и в рекордно короткие сроки, 24 april, иск был удовлетворен. На сайте райсуда
It is said, that judge Alla Danilenko considered the case alone, without the presence of the owners of blocked Internet resources.

According to the published decision, the court banned certain five URLs not named in the document. Official wording of the verdict: five Internet addresses contain “information, aimed at promoting crimes in the field of legalization (laundering) income, mined by criminal.

This refers only to Bits.media pages - unknown. What became the reason for the prosecutor's claim is unknown. The plaintiff and the court did not consider it necessary to contact the editor at any of the email addresses published on the website, emphasizes the founder of Bits.media Ivan Tikhonov:

"We are an interested party in the case, however, no one notified us about the proceedings. We were not given any opportunity to remove the materials., about which the Saratov prosecutor’s office had questions. We categorically disagree with the verdict.".

The editors will definitely challenge the decision of the court of first instance. Especially, that exactly the same incident already once ended in victory for Bits.media.

In January 2015 years ago they tried to block our site, referring to the decision of the Nevyansk City Court of the Sverdov Region. Local prosecutor, as in the case of Saratov, appealed to the judge with a claim for “protection of an indefinite number of persons”. Then seven Internet resources were blocked at once.

The editors challenged the blocking in the court of second instance, demanding to cancel the decision of the Nevyansk City Court. And four months later she successfully won the case. Soon after this, Roskomnadzor unblocked the site.

Now the Bits.media website and forum continue to operate as before., they are available worldwide, including in Russia - via VPN or using browser plugins. Social networks, our telegram channel and YouTube channel are still functioning.

The editors will keep you updated on the proceedings..