Supervisor Elham AbolFateh
Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

Facebook Pays 17M Roubles to Russia over Banned Content 


Sun 19 Dec 2021 | 03:00 PM
Omnia Ahmed

Facebook paid 17 million roubles ($229,643) in fines to Russia for not deleting content Moscow deems illegal, the Interfax news agency reported on Sunday.

Meta, along with Alphabet's Google (GOOGL.O), is facing a court case next week for suspected repeated violations of Russian legislation on content. It may also be fined a percentage of its annual revenue in Russia.

However, the company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In October, Russia sent state bailiffs in order to enforce the collection of 17 million roubles in fines imposed on Facebook.

Interfax reported that there were no more enforcement proceedings against the company, citing the federal bailiff service's database.

Moscow has been increasing pressure on large tech firms this year in a campaign that critics feature as an attempt by the Russian authorities to exert tighter control over the internet. They believe that it threatens to stifle inpidual and corporate freedom.

On the other hand, Interfax said messaging app Telegram has also paid 15 million roubles in fines.