A Russian court’s decision earlier this week to ban YouTube in a Russian town because of an extremist video is earning harsh critism from bloggers and activists. The Guardian reports:

Anton Nosik, Russia’s leading internet guru, condemned the decision. “The level of crassness in this court ruling is typical of legal proceedings concerning the internet in Russia,” he said. Google, the owner of YouTube, said the ruling violated Russians’ constitutional right to freedom of information.

Many bloggers also decried the ban, warning it could be a slippery slope to tighter censorship across the country.