Russia Imposes Million Dollar Fines on Google and Meta

On Friday, the Russian Justice imposed high fines on Google and Meta, which together exceed US$100 million dollars, for non-compliance with local laws.

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The Tagansky District Court of Moscow fined Google US$98.4 million because of "systemic failure to remove prohibited information," agency TASS reported. Another Moscow court also imposed a fine of US$2.7 million on Meta, owner of Facebook.

This is the first time that both companies, repeatedly reprimanded for breach of Russian law, have received such a high amount of fines, calculated on the basis of the income of these computer giants.

Since February, the Russian telecommunications regulator Roskomnadzor has sent administrative protocols against various social networks and messaging applications to Justice due to their reluctance to eliminate "prohibited content" in this country.

"Russia has ordered companies to delete posts promoting drug abuse and dangerous pastimes, information about homemade weapons and explosives, as well as ones by groups it designates as extremist or terrorist," Reuters reported.

Previously, the Russian judges and regulators also fined other social networks such as Telegram, Twitter, or TikTok for breach of domestic laws. 

In November, Russia warned 13 foreign social media giants that they should open offices in their territory if they did not want to face possible restrictions or outright bans. This warning was issued in correspondence with a law passed by President Vladimir Putin in July.