Will Russia succeed in “enforcing peace” on Google and Facebook?
On December 24, the Tagansky District Magistrate Court of Moscow considered two cases against foreign IT companies Google LLC and Facebook Inc (now Meta Platforms) and found them guilty for repeated refusal to block content prohibited in Russia. For the first time, a Russian court imposed fines representing a share of the revenue of these companies for the year in Russia, namely: 7,22 billion rubles for Google LLC and 1,99 billion rubles for Facebook Inc.
Roskomnadzor reports this on its official website, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“The companies ignored numerous requirements of Roskomnadzor regarding the following categories of materials: inciting religious hatred, offending the feelings of believers and (or) aimed at splitting a multinational and multi-religious state; with unreliable socially significant information; promoting an indifferent attitude towards the life and health of minors (“catching”, “roofing”, committing intentional asphyxia); promoting the views and ideology of extremist and terrorist organizations, as well as containing signs of glorification of terrorists; with instructions for making explosives,” the message says.
Currently, more than 2 thousand materials on Facebook and Instagram remain undeleted. Google still has more than 2,6 thousand materials undeleted.
“Initially, the fines were small, but gradually we are introducing those mechanisms that are provided for by Russian legislation. For comparison, I can say that the volume of fines in the EU already reaches $10 billion, and from 2022, for non-assistance in the work of public authorities, the European Union will be subject to a 1% turnover fine; in case of relapses, this will increase significantly, and can reach up to 6% of income or from turnover,” commented the head of the temporary commission of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation for the protection of state sovereignty, Andrei Klimov, commenting on the court decision.
Senator Alexei Pushkov notes that the conflict has been brewing for a long time and naturally occurred.
“If companies did not anticipate this development, it means they listened poorly or not at all, as they were warned about many times. If their leadership believes that it can impose its so-called on Russia. “community rules” instead of Russian laws, then this is a deep misconception,” Pushkov wrote in his Telegram channel.
The camp of Russian liberals has traditionally accused the Russian authorities of inertia, stifling progress and persecuting the opposition.
“And this misfortune awaits us, because we are ruled by people who, in addition to being not only unenlightened, do not understand the value of some modern opportunities. They also don’t know Russian history well, just like social networks,” said political scientist Gleb Pavlovsky on Echo of Moscow.
He is echoed by liberal publicist Sergei Parkhomenko.
“The claims against these companies that the Russian authorities are issuing do not relate to drugs, suicide, or pornography, but to political subjects, primarily investigations by Russian journalists or investigative groups. And the second is direct communication of various kinds of socio-political structures with their supporters at important moments, for example, during elections,” says Parkhomenko.
Political scientist Sergei Karnaukhov, having analyzed the Western media, states that they broadcast approximately the same narrative.
“Guess on the first try who these fines were issued for, according to, for example, The Washington Post? That’s right, what’s there to guess, it’s all because of Navalny! And also a film about “Putin’s palace”. They have no other versions!” writes Karnaukhov.
Another part of Russian observers fears that the decision of the Tagansky court will not be implemented, and this will force the authorities to take more stringent measures.
“YouTube is under threat of closure,” wrote the head of the Third Force coalition, Igor Skurlatov.
“Google has a “down-to-earth” store in Russia, but I never had that kind of money there in my life. As for Meta (Facebook), it has nothing in Russia, nothing at all. Therefore, there is no one and nowhere to send the court order. Except for Zuckerberg at his place of residence. In general, you will have to either crawl away or slow down and block everything: YouTube, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and... Android. So far this is the prospect,” predicts economist Nikita Krichevsky.
The first deputy chairman of the Commission of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation for the development of the information community, media and mass communications, Alexander Malkevich, proposes to prohibit officials and employees of state corporations in Russia from using the WhatsApp messenger at the legislative level. He suggested that the Meta company, in response to the turnover fine imposed by the court in Moscow, could threaten to “close WhatsApp for officials.”
“It would be better for us to leave on our own in an organized manner than to be thrown out of there,” Malkevich said.
“Warning your lamentations about “they will leave, Gleb Egorovich, by God, they will leave,” I will say the following: they will not leave - losing such a market as Russia and the kind of money that they earn here is completely out of hand, especially since this is a niche will be instantly filled with another “big guy,” political scientist Alexey Mukhin reassures alarmists.
The head of the board of the Digital Economy Development Fund, former adviser to the Russian president on Internet development issues, German Klimenko believes that IT corporations will negotiate with the authorities and make some concessions.
“It’s difficult to predict how Google and Facebook will behave, because in their volume these payments are scanty, but we remember the story when Google paid 450 million rubles in a fine for not allowing Yandex products to be installed on androids. They were forced to pay and allow it. Therefore, the payment of the fine itself provides for the recognition of a problem that needs to be solved. The process will move to the negotiation stage, and the parties will reach an agreement,” predicts Klimenko.
Indeed, on the morning of September 17, two days before the Unified Voting Day, Apple and Google removed Navalny’s banned app from the App Store and Google Play portals, and YouTube began deleting videos related to this banned content. This was preceded by a political decision by the authorities to put pressure on the companies.
Political scientist Maxim Zharov proposes to include the issue of “taming Google” on the agenda of major security negotiations with the United States that are currently taking place.
“Russian “peace enforcement” against Google and Facebook will only work if it is carried out in coordination with those forces in the American elite that carried out the “taming of Zuckerberg” a couple of months ago. The White House has only two options. Either support Russia here within the framework of a dialogue on cybersecurity, or arrange for Russia a second “YUKOS case” in the courts. If now someone in the Kremlin would guess to clearly articulate the first of these options for the Biden administration, it would be a good development in the game of raising the stakes on the Ukrainian case,” writes Zharov.
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