MOSCOW (AP) – A court in Moscow fined Twitter on Friday for failing to remove calls that encouraged minors to participate in unauthorized rallies, the latest in a series of actions against the social media giant that has been used to expand dissent in Russia.
The court found Twitter guilty on three counts of violating regulations on restricting illegal content, ordering the company to pay three fines totaling 8.9 million rubles (about $ 117,000).
The decision was made two weeks after Roskomnadzor, Russia’s state media, threatened to block Twitter in 30 days if it did not take steps to remove the banned content.
Roskomnadzor accused Twitter last month of failing to remove content encouraging child suicide, as well as information about drugs and child pornography. The agency announced on March 10 that it was slowing down the speed of uploading photos and videos to the platform because of that. Twitter in response emphasized its zero-tolerance policy for child sexual exploitation, the promotion of suicide and the sale of drugs.
Less than a week later, Roskomnadzor’s deputy chief Vadim Subbotin argued that Twitter was not yet fulfilling with the demands of the Russian authorities, adding that “if things go on like this, in a month it will be blocked”.
Russian officials earlier this year criticized social media platforms for bringing tens of thousands of people to the streets across Russia in January to demand the release of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, the most well-known critic of President Vladimir Putin. The wave of demonstrations was the biggest in years and represented a major challenge for the Kremlin.
Authorities claimed that social media platforms failed to remove calls for children to participate in the protests. Putin urged the police to do more to monitor social platforms and track those who “lure children into illegal and unsanctioned street actions”.
Twitter on Friday made no comment on the Moscow court decision.
The Russian government’s efforts to increase control over the internet and social media date back to 2012, when a law was adopted that allows authorities to blacklist and block certain online content. Since then, an increasing number of restrictions targeting messaging apps, websites and social media platforms have been introduced in Russia.
The government has repeatedly aired threats to block Facebook and Twitter, but has avoided direct bans, probably fearing that the move would generate too much public outrage. Only the social network LinkedIn, which was not very popular in Russia, was banned by the authorities for not storing their user data in Russia.
However, some experts said that Russian authorities may be seriously considering the possibility of bans this time around.
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Associated Press editor Kelvin Chan of London contributed to this report.