RUSSIA FILED A SUIT AGAINST WHATSAPP FOR BREAKING PERSONAL DATA LAWS

Sat 31 July 2021:

According to the Interfax news agency, Russia launched administrative proceedings against Facebook’s WhatsApp on Friday for failing to localize data of Russian users on Russian territory.

There was no immediate comment from Facebook.

A day earlier, a Russian court fined Alphabet Google 3 million roubles for violating personal data legislation and registered administrative proceedings against Facebook and Twitter for the same offence.

The cases are part of a wider spat between Russia and Big Tech, with Moscow routinely fining social media giants for failing to remove banned content and seeking to compel foreign tech firms to open offices in Russia.

WhatsApp could be fined between 1 million and 6 million roubles ($13,700 to $82,250), Interfax reported, citing court documents. A court date has not yet been set.

Last month, the national media watchdog, Roskomnadzor, said, Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter face multi-million ruble fines as they have missed the July 1 deadline to localize databases of Russian users in Russia,.

Twitter and Facebook were first fined by the Russian authorities in 2018. As the companies did not respond to the request of Roskomnadzor to disclose where they store the data of Russian users, each of them was fined 3,000 rubles. In 2020, Twitter and Facebook each were fined 4 million rubles for refusal to comply with data localization laws.

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