Russia to Punish Five Foreign IT Firms for Violating Online Content Laws

Russia’s state communications regulator stated on Friday it was taking punitive measures in opposition to 5 overseas IT firms for violating on-line content material legal guidelines, which might require search engines like google and yahoo to incorporate a disclaimer concerning the violations. The regulator, Roskomnadzor, stated it was imposing measures in opposition to ByteDance’s TikTok, Telegram messaging service, Zoom Video Communications, chat device Discord and Pinterest.

In a press release, Roskomnadzor stated that the measures have been in response to the businesses’ failure to take away content material that it had flagged as unlawful, and would stay in place till they complied.

None of the businesses instantly responded to written requests for remark.

Roskomnadzor didn’t specify exactly what measures could be taken. Russia’s dominant Yandex search engine already carries a disclaimer for another web sites that reads: “Roskomnadzor: website violates Russian law”.

“Roskomnadzor has decided to apply enforcement measures … in the form of internet users being informed by search engines about the companies’ violations of Russian legislation,” the regulator stated.

Russia has fined a number of, principally overseas tech companies for not deleting content material it deems unlawful. It has additionally warned websites in opposition to violating a regulation handed in early March that prohibits “discrediting” the armed forces, with a sentence of as much as 15 years.

On Tuesday, Russian courts fined Amazon’s dwell streaming unit Twitch RUB 2 million (roughly Rs. 26,81,200) and Telegram RUB 11 million (roughly Rs. 1.5 crore) for internet hosting content material that Moscow stated contained “fake” data regarding occasions in Ukraine.

The court docket accused Twitch, a US-based live-streaming service widespread with video avid gamers, of failing to take away a 31-second clip of a woman from the city of Bucha, the Kommersant newspaper reported. It didn’t specify the content material of the video.

Russian lawmakers in July authorized a invoice offering for stricter penalties for overseas web firms, together with the search engine disclaimer.

© Thomson Reuters 2022