According to Reuters, Russia has issued a fine to Twitter, Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook) and TikTok for disregarding the country’s laws and failing to delete content Russia deems illegal from the respective sites.
This is the latest penalty in a year of increasing pressure for tech companies to conform to Russia’s demands. Many critics have described the effort as an attempt by the country to maintain and expand its tight control over internet usage within its borders. A move that will further threaten both individual and corporate freedom in the country.
Really? Is that all?
Meta Platforms’ fines total 13 million roubles over three cases, or just over R2.8 million. A laughable amount for the company. Similarly, Twitter was fined 10 million roubles (just over R2 million) and TikTok, 4 million (around R850,000). Pocket change for all involved.
Perhaps the bigger revenue hit would be the court case that Meta and Alphabet, the parent company of Google, face for repeated violations of Russian content law. Both companies could be fined a percentage of the revenue they make in the country which will probably be a bit more than the current fines.
According to Russia, it’s not all bad though. The country has slowed down Twitter since March of this year because posts were found to contain child pornography and drug abuse info. Twitter denies it allows its platform to be used for illegal activity, because why would anyone ever admit to that?