Still allowed. (Photo: Hashgram/ObeyTheRussian)

Eric Schmidt left Russia off his world censorship tour for a reason. Until now, the government has kept Internet freedom largely in tact. But it's about to get a lot stricter as Russia has begun to selectively block content online that is potentially harmful to children, reports the New York Times.

The Orwellian-sounding Federal Supervision Agency has been cracking down on “objectionable” material (i.e. child porn, content discussing drug use and suicide) spreading on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. The law was passed last November but has only been enforced in the past few weeks. The Russian government insisted the laws are to protect the kids and not to stifle controversial issues, like political dissent, the Times said:

The child protection law, they say, builds a system for government officials to demand that companies selectively block individual postings, so that contentious material can be removed without resorting to a countrywide ban on, for example, Facebook or YouTube, which would reflect poorly on Russia's image abroad and anger Internet users at home.

So far, YouTube is the only website to voice a complaint. The Google-owned site filed a lawsuit in February disputing a claim from Russian officials that a video showing how to make a fake wound using a razor blade was for entertainment purposes. Facebook also found itself in the crosshairs of the law last Friday as it was forced to take down a page about suicide.

Teenagers aren't entirely without online freedom, however. Judging by Instagram, selfies are still permitted.

Google was "deliberately pandering to negative Western perceptions of China, and strongly hinting that the hacking attacks were the work of the Chinese government." Adding, "Google should not become overly embroiled in international political struggle, playing the role of a tool for political contention."

The party went on to insinuate that assigning blame to the Chinese government will only hurt Google's market position in China, which was already slipping to native rival Baidu after last year's tension between China and Obama administration over hacking and censorship. The powers that be warned Google:

"For when the international winds shift direction, it may become sacrificed to politics and will be spurned by the marketplace."

You know what else panders to "negative Western perceptions of China"? Using the Communist Party mouthpiece to issue thinly-veiled threats for identifying a massive hacking scheme that directly benefits the Community Party. Somewhere in Palo Alto, Sheryl Sandberg is quietly typing out her I-told-you-so's.