Moscow court fines Twitter, TikTok, and Google for failure to delete prohibited content

On May 27, Moscow’s Tagansky District Court handed down fines to Twitter, TikTok, and Google for failing to delete content banned in Russia, reports the newswire Interfax.

Twitter was fined a total of 19 million rubles (nearly $259,000) in connection with six instances of failing to take down posts containing calls to participate in unsanctioned protest rallies. Taking into account penalties for similar violations handed down in April, the social network owes a total of 27.9 million rubles (about $380,000) in fines.

TikTok was fined 1.5 million rubles (about $20,400), also for failing to remove content calling for participation in unauthorized rallies. In April, the video-sharing platform was ordered to pay 2.5 million rubles ($34,000) for similar violations, meaning the total sum TikTok owes now amounts to four million rubles ($54,400).

The court fined Google 3.5 million rubles (nearly $48,000) for failing to filter search results to remove links to content prohibited in Russia. Taking into account previous penalties handed down earlier this month, the tech giant now owes 9.5 million rubles (more than $129,000) in fines.

• In February, Russia’s censorship agency, Roskomnadzor, began writing up massive numbers of protocols against major social networks for allegedly refusing to delete prohibited content — this began after the large-scale rallies in support of jailed opposition politician Alexey Navalny, which took place in late January.
• In turn, Russian courts began handing down fines to not only Twitter, TikTok, and Google, but also the messaging platform Telegram (5 million rubles, or $68,000), the Russian social network Odnoklassniki (four million rubles, or $54,400), and Facebook (26 million rubles, or $354,000).
• In March, Roskomnadzor began throttling Twitter traffic in Russia, accusing the network of failing to remove prohibited content. The censorship agency threatened to block Twitter in Russia completely, but later backtracked after the social network removed 91 percent of the banned content. Though Roskomnadzor decided against blocking Twitter, it continues to slow down its traffic on mobile devices.