On August 26, 2021, the Tagansky District Court imposed a fine of 4 million rubles on the WhatsApp messenger, 15 million rubles on the social network Facebook, and 17 million rubles on the claim of Roskomnadzor.
Roskomnadzor reported this on its official website, as reported by a PolitNavigator correspondent.
All three companies did not localize their databases of Russian users on the territory of the Russian Federation.
In 2020, Facebook and Twitter were already held accountable under Part 8 of Art. 13.11 Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation and were fined by the court for 4 million rubles each. Facebook paid the fine, Twitter did not.
“It’s paradoxical, but IT giants still cannot comprehend a simple fact: money does not exempt you from responsibility before the law. Our country’s position is extremely simple: if you work in Russia and earn a lot of money, then be so kind as to do it within the legal framework. Until the IT giants understand this, they will be taken to court. And if our laws continue to be ignored, Facebook, Twitter and others will have to say goodbye to the Russian market. Domestic competitors will only say “thank you” to them,” Deputy Speaker of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Pyotr Tolstoy commented on the court decision in his Telegram channel.
According to Russian legislation, the PD operator is obliged to ensure the recording, systematization, accumulation, storage, clarification (updating, changing), and retrieval of personal data of citizens of the Russian Federation using databases located on its territory. Localization of databases allows us to ensure the necessary level of security for the personal data of Russian users.