Russia fines Facebook, Twitter for not deleting banned content

A Russian court on Tuesday said it had fined U.S. social media giants Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) and Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) for failing to delete content that Moscow deems illegal, part of a wider crackdown on the internet and Big Tech.

Moscow wants foreign internet firms to open full-fledged offices in Russia and to store Russians’ personal data on its territory. On Tuesday the government published plans to impose new taxes on foreign-owned digital services as part of a push to support its domestic tech sector. [nL8N2QG1ZV]

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

Popular messaging app Telegram had been fined 9 million roubles, the court said.

Facebook, Twitter and Telegram did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Twitter has been the subject of a punitive slowdown since March. State communications regulator Roskomnadzor has said Twitter and other social media firms have not deleted posts with banned material quickly enough.

($1 = 72.9550 roubles)