JAKARTA - A Russian court on Tuesday, September 14 said it had fined US social media companies Facebook and Twitter for failing to remove content deemed illegal by the Moscow government. This decision is part of a wider crackdown by Russia on the internet and Big Tech.
The Tagansky district court said Facebook had been fined five fines totaling 21 million rubles (Rp 4 billion). Twitter received two fines out of a total of 5 million rubles (Rp977 million).
"The popular messaging app Telegram has also been fined 9 million rubles (Rp 1.75 billion)," an official at the Tagansky court was quoted as saying by Reuters. While Facebook, Twitter and Telegram did not immediately comment on the ruling.
These actions by Moscow to strengthen their control over internet companies include a push to require foreign internet companies to open branches in Russia and store Russian personal data on its territory.
On Tuesday, the Russian government also published plans to impose a new tax on foreign-owned digital services. This is a move aimed at supporting its domestic technology sector.
In March, state communications regulator Roskomnadzor began curtailing Twitter's speed for not removing banned material fast enough.
Internet services are under increasing pressure ahead of Russia's September 17-19 parliamentary elections. Roskomnadzor tried to block virtual private networks (VPNs) and online resources associated with imprisoned Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.
The watchdog has tried to restrict access to an app designed by Navalny's team for use in organizing tactical or "smart" voting campaigns in elections. Navalny's activist network was also banned this summer by a political crackdown.
The Interfax news agency also reported that Russia's federal bailiff service said on Tuesday it wanted to force Alphabet's Google to comply with a court order banning references to the phrase "smart voting" in its keyword search system.
The Kommersant newspaper also reported that state bailiffs came to the office block to meet local Google staff on Monday evening, August 13. Google itself did not respond to a request for comment on this matter.
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