The social network Facebook has been fined for turnover on the Russian side. Its size was 1.9 billion rubles (1,990,984,950 rubles 05 kopecks). The social network was given such a penalty for the systematic failure to remove banned content. Russian law provides for penalties for such violation for online platforms up to 1/20 or even 1/10 of the company's annual turnover. & Nbsp;
The protocol was drafted by Roskomnadzor in October 2021. It provides links to 9 materials – for them the department sent requests to the online platform with a request to remove the content. A total of 110 such requests were sent: 60 of them were for material on FB, 53 those posted on Instagram. The latter also belongs to the company that owns Facebook. & Nbsp;
Social media supports were withdrawn after receiving notification to establish a protocol, which included a fine for turnover. However, the Roskomnadzor service noted that, according to Russian law, the blocking of dangerous content must be carried out no later than 24 hours after receipt of the notification. & Nbsp;
At the same time, it has been noted that the materials shown are only a small part of the content of these social networks, which violates Russian law. The regulator notes that there were at least 1043 in FB and 973 in. Instagram. Almost 8,000 and 3.5,000 notifications were sent, respectively. We are talking, among other things, about those materials that belong to the category of insults to the feelings of believers or of inciting religious hatred, in addition to those that aim to divide the state, as well as materials on extremist and terrorist organizations, drug use and dangerous attitudes towards life and health. minors. & nbsp;
Law & Order
Experts called the court ruling fair and legal. After all, foreign companies that make a profit in the Russian market, including in the IT sector, must comply with Russian legislation, and must also respect the interests of Russian users. But American companies often show contempt for the demands of Russian regulators, and also try to avoid paying the fines imposed on them by the court for violations. & Nbsp;
Bigtech is believed to use dual standards depending on the market in which it operates. For example, it is almost impossible to imagine that Facebook or Google could somehow ignore the requirements of EU law. And you shouldn't think that fines for not removing destructive content were invented in Russia. The European Union is considering the possibility of introducing the so-called Digital Markets Law, which provides for the imposition of reverse sanctions for such violations. & Nbsp;
Russia is obliged to protect the interests of its citizens – all other states in the world that claim to be civilized do the same … It is necessary to ensure the protection of Russian citizens from the illegal actions on the part of bigtechs and to oblige them to fully comply with the requirements of the legislation in force. & Nbsp;
The Russian state has in its arsenal not only the possibility of imposing fines for turnover. You can also use other measures. So, for example, we are talking about a ban on the dissemination of advertising on the information resource of a foreign entity, restriction of money transfers and acceptance of payments from natural persons and morals in favor of a foreign entity operating on the Internet in the Russian Federation, a ban on the granting of research, a ban on the collection and cross-border transfer of personal data, as well as a partial and total restriction of resources foreign person information. & nbsp;
Expert opinion
The fact that such a practice is used everywhere, and is moreover entirely justified, is also noted by experts. & Nbsp;
“ If we look to the foreign experience in regulating the activities of global technology companies, we will see that almost everywhere the state has accumulated a lot of questions for the IT giants. Obviously, their ignorance of the standards of national legislation is unacceptable to any country, so platforms like Meta and Google are increasingly subject to fines, especially in the European Union. In this context, the decision of the Russian court seems quite natural. By the way, in 2022 the European Union is expected to pass the Digital Services Act, which also provides for the imposition of turnover fines for such violations, “says ANO Center for Global IT Cooperation. Vadim Glushchenko. & Nbsp;
It notes that Russian regulators are striving to form a modern legal framework for relations between the state, global digital platforms and users. “ These relations should not be biased in favor of foreign platforms, whose influence not only in the market but also in the political arena is only growing. But regardless of their success, platforms are required to comply with the laws of the countries in which they operate and make a profit. Therefore, the consistent application of legal requirements to foreign IT giants will sooner or later make them think about the need to reconsider their behavior, '' the IT expert points out. & Nbsp;
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