MOSCOW, April 10 (RAPSI) - Russian interior minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev and the State Duma speaker Sergei Naryshkin were approached with a proposal to establish a cyber police unit to monitor social media, Izvestia newspaper reported on Friday.

There is already a cybercrime department, known as Directorate K, within the Interior Ministry, that deals with preventing unlawful online activity. But it is looking “only for potential extremists or terrorists,” Izvestia quotes author of the proposal, the leader of a civil society organization, Dmitry Kurdesov, as saying.

The cyber police unit would deal with claims filed by users of social media and reports on threats, insulting posts. 

Also the activist proposes fines between 500 ($10) and 2,000 rubles ($39) “for starting a fraudulent social media page in another user’s name,” Izvestia adds.

On April 9, the Federal Consumer Rights Protection Service banned photomontages involving celebrities or public figures. “Using an image of a celebrity in a popular internet meme” is now considered illegal.

Izvestia also cites China as an example where starting March 1, it is prohibited by law to use the names of foreign leaders or celebrities as online nicknames or for pseudo-accounts. The new rules also prohibit the inclusion of profile photos and information that causes damage to the state or to society. It is now illegal to distribute data that undermines the country’s religious policy and incites inter-ethnic hatred.