MOSCOW— Russia fined Facebook and Twitter on Tuesday
for not deleting banned content, adding to a slew of penalties the government
has imposed on foreign tech giants.
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Russia has recently been tightening controls over US-based
tech companies and last week accused them of interfering in parliamentary polls
this weekend.
A court in Moscow slapped Facebook with five fines on
Tuesday totaling 21 million rubles ($288,000), according to an official Telegram
channel. The same court fined Twitter five million rubles.
Russia regularly takes legal action against internet
platforms for not removing content it labels illegal, such as pornographic
material or posts condoning drugs and suicide.
Facebook has so far been fined 90 million rubles in Russia
and
Twitter 45 million, the state-run TASS news agency reported.
Judicial authorities have also fined Google citing the same
offences and also for failing to store the data of Russian users on domestic
services.
As part of broad efforts to reel foreign tech under its
control, Russia also banned six major VPN providers this month including Nord
VPN and Express VPN.
In January, Russia demanded that social networks take down
posts calling on Russians to join protests in support of Kremlin critic Alexei
Navalny, under the guise of preventing minors from attending.
President Vladimir Putin complained that month of the
growing influence of large technology companies, which he said were competing
with sovereign states.
Election 'interference'
Russia's foreign ministry said last week it had summoned the
US ambassador in Moscow to present proof of US tech giants'
"interference" in the forthcoming polls.
Nearly all Kremlin critics — including allies of Navalny —
have been barred from running in parliamentary elections on 17-19 September.
Russian media regulator Roskomnadzor has blocked dozens of
websites linked to Navalny, including a site that instructs Russians on how to
vote out politicians of the ruling United Russia party.
The regulator has also urged Google and Apple to remove an
app dedicated to Navalny's "Smart Voting" campaign from their stores.
Navalny, 45, who is behind bars on old fraud charges, has
this year seen his political network and anti-corruption group banned. His top
aides have fled the country.
A Russian diplomatic source said Navalny's app was
"obviously" linked to US secret services through its developer Roman
Rubanov, the former head of Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation.
The source said Rubanov is now employed by the
California-based space infrastructure company Momentus Inc, which has former
Pentagon officials among its leadership.
The "Smart Voting" tactic led the increasingly
unpopular United Russia party to lose a number of seats in local elections in
2019.
However, there is little doubt that Putin's party will
retain its majority in parliament.
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