FX.co ★ Russian media watchdog cracks down on Twitter and Facebook

A court in Moscow has fined the US-based social media companies Twitter and Facebook 4 million rubles each for their refusal to disclose personal data of Russian users. This event certainly alarms every account holder in Russia as well as all overseas Internet companies. The Russian authorities have been pursuing the policy of total control over users on social media. Russian messengers and social networking services share without hesitation user data and messages with local law enforcement agencies. At the same time, Western companies still reject such requirements. For the first time in 2018, Russia's federal media regulator, Roskomnadzor, requested the US tech giants to comply with the Russian legislation. In late January, the federal watchdog reported that they refused to store Russian users’ data on servers located inside Russia. The next step was a lawsuit against both social media companies. The proceedings ended with a ruling of the Tagansky District Court in Moscow. The court found Twitter Inc., the legal entity registered in California, guilty of committing the administrative offense. The judge considered this refusal to be a violation of paragraph 8, Clause 13.11 (the data localization requirement) of the Russian personal data law. Of course, the fine of 4 million rubles (about $63,000) is modest money for such prosperous US corporations. Nevertheless, the second lawsuit for the same reason will entail a bigger fine. The following step could be the ban on these popular social networks in Russia.