Intel has disabled blog, forum and comment contributions to its Russian Developer Zone community in response to new laws affecting news agencies, journalists and bloggers, which requires them to register with the government and restricts what they are allowed to publish.
In a notice on its website, Intel explains that "in order to be compiant [sic] with the Russian Internet Bloggers Law" it has disabled blog, forum and comment contributions, but, Intel said it will "continue to contribute and support russian [sic] developers" through the Habrahabr website, which it said is "a popular platform for developers to exchange ideas and discuss new technologies."
The new laws, which came into effect on January 1st, forces news agencies, journalists, and bloggers to register with the Russian government and comply with its strict media rules, or face up to $900 in fines. The media rules include requirements to fact-check and to stay silent during elections.
A part of the new laws is a requirement for technology companies to hold data on Russian people locally on servers located in Russia. The law would make it easier for the Russian government to monitor and pull data from companies like Google, Facebook and Twitter.
Ongoing tensions with the West and concerns with the new laws has seen technology companies like Google, Microsoft and Adobe start to pull people and resources from Russia.
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