A court in Moscow has ordered Twitter, Facebook's owner Meta, and TikTok to pay more fines for violating the country’s rules on banned content.
A magistrate court in the Russian capital ruled in separate hearings on December 16 that Twitter must pay 10 million rubles ($135,300), Meta 13 million rubles ($176,000), and TikTok 4 million rubles ($54,130) for failing or refusing to delete banned content as instructed in an earlier ruling.
The fines are the latest in a series of rulings in recent months against Google, Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Telegram, and TikTok on similar charges that the social media platforms are not heeding Russia's Internet laws.
Communications regulator Roskomnadzor said earlier that Google, Facebook, and Twitter failed to delete about 5,500 items considered as banned in Russia with the amount of fines they have been ordered to pay now topping 140 million rubles ($1,894,700). It is not clear whether the companies have paid any of the fines levied against them.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused social media platforms and other tech giants of flouting the country's Internet laws, including a push seeking to force foreign firms to open offices in Russia and store Russians' personal data on its territory.
Many critics say the push has nothing to do with "Internet integrity" and instead accuse the authorities of trying to quell dissent.
