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Russia Fines Facebook & Twitter, Again

By  |  September 14, 2021

A Russian court on Tuesday, September 14, stated it had fined US social media companies Facebook and Twitter for failing to delete content that Moscow deems illegal, part of a wider crackdown by Russia on the internet and Big Tech.

The Tagansky district court announced that Facebook had been handed five fines totaling 21 million roubles (US$287,850). Twitter received two fines of a total 5 million roubles, it stated.

Popular messaging app Telegram had been fined 9 million roubles, the court stated. Moscow’s actions to strengthen its control of the internet have included a push to require foreign internet companies to open fully-fledged offices in Russia and to store Russians’ personal data on its territory. 

Related: Russian Watchdog Repeatedly Fines Google Over Advertising

On Tuesday, the government published plans to impose new taxes on foreign-owned digital services, a move aimed at supporting its domestic tech sector.

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