Russia fines Twitter, TikTok and Google for failing to delete prohibited content

Foreign tech firms will also be required to host user data on Russian soil from July

A Russian court on Thursday fined Twitter and TikTok for failing to delete content that is deemed illegal under Russian law.

The Tagansky District court in Moscow said that it had issued 19 million roubles (£183,000) fine on Twitter for six different administrative offences.

In April, the microblogging platform was fined 8.9 million roubles (about $85,000).

The court also issued a fine of 1.5 million roubles (£14,400) on Chinese video sharing site TikTok.

"By a ruling of the Justice of the Peace of Court No. 422 in Moscow's Tagansky District, TikTok has been found guilty of the administrative offence under Part 2, Article 13.41 of the Russian Administrative Code," the court said, according to Russian news agency Tass.

The ruling against Twitter is the latest chapter in the long-running dispute between Russian authorities and the big US tech firms.

In March, Russia's telecom regulator Roskomnadzor slowed down the speed of Twitter over its repeated failure to remove banned content from its platform. The regulator alleged that since 2017, Twitter had been declining to delete posts related to child pornography, use of drugs or encouraging minors to commit suicide.

Roskomnadzor said that it had sent more than 28,000 demands to the social media company, requesting it to delete illegal content, but no action was action by the firm.

Twitter said that it has a "zero-tolerance policy regarding child sexual exploitation" and that it was against Twitter's own rules to encourage or glorify self-harm and suicide.

Earlier this month, Roskomnadzor stated that it had partially halted the Twitter slowdown after the platform removed more than 90 per cent of the illegal content.

On Thursday, the court also fined Google 3.5 million roubles ($£34,000), in addition to 6 million roubles (£57,700) in fines issued on Tuesday.

The charges concerned content that Russian authorities allege encouraged minors to join unsanctioned demonstrations earlier this year.

Facebook was also fined by the court earlier this week for failing to delete illegal content.

Roskomnadzor had earlier said that repeat offences by tech firms can fetch fines of up to 10 per cent of the company's total annual revenue.

The communications watchdog also said this week that it was not planning to slow down the speed of Facebook or Google, but warned that more radical steps could be taken against companies that fail to follow Russian laws.

Twitter, Facebook and other online platforms are required to host databases of Russian users on Russian territory by 1st July or face a fine of up to 18 million roubles (£173,000), Roskomnadzor deputy head Milos Wagner said on Wednesday, according to the Interfax news agency.

Wagner also told the news outlet that Samsung, Apple and PayPal were among the more than 600 overseas firms that will need to localise user data in Russia.