A court in Moscow has fined the holiday rental company Airbnb, video streaming service Twitch, United Parcel Shipping (UPS), and the Pinterest image sharing and social media service for failing to localize the storage of the personal data of their users amid a government campaign to gain more control over the Internet in Russia.
The Magistrates Court in Moscow’s Taganka district ordered Twitch, Airbnb, and Pinterest on June 28 to pay 2 million rubles ($37,500) each for failing to abide by a law that requires the local storage of user data. The court ordered UPS to pay a fine of 1 million rubles on the same charge.
President Vladimir Putin has accused international tech giants of flouting the country's Internet laws, including Moscow's efforts to force foreign firms to open offices in Russia.
In recent months, Moscow courts have fined Google, Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Telegram, and TikTok over the personal data issue, as well as for refusing to delete content deemed to have been banned under Russian law.
Many critics say Russia's efforts to police online content have nothing to do with "Internet integrity" and instead they have accused the authorities of trying to impose more control over the media in the wake of Russia's ongoing unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.