A Russian court fined US social media firms Facebook and Twitter on Thursday for failing to delete illegal content, the latest salvo in a standoff between Russia and Big Tech.
Russian authorities have taken steps in recent months to regulate technology giants more closely by imposing small fines for content violations, while also seeking to force foreign companies to open offices in Russia and store Russians’ personal data on its territory.
Moscow’s Tagansky District Court said it had fined Facebook a total of 6 million roubles ($81,320) for two different administrative offences related to stipulations that website owners delete banned information or face penalties.
The court fined Twitter a combined 5.5 million roubles for two offenses. Messaging app Telegram was also ordered to pay a total of 11 million roubles for three offense, the court said.
Other countries have called upon social media firms to do more to police content. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson met representatives of platforms last week and warned that they would face fines amounting to 10% of their global revenues unless they removed hateful and racist content
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