Russia has repeatedly threatened to fine various sites – including big company search engines like Google Bing, that violate harsh new laws criminalizing the spreading of “false information” about the Russian army and misleading the public.
Russia’s state communications watchdog Roskomnadzor said on Friday that it was taking punitive measures against a string of foreign IT companies, including TikTok, Telegram, Zoom, Discord and Pinterest.
In a statement, Roskomnadzor said that the measures were in response to the companies’ failure to remove content that it had flagged as illegal, and would remain in place until they complied. It did not specify what measures would be taken. The regulator, Roskomnadzor, said it was imposing measures against ByteDance’s TikTok, Telegram messaging service, Zoom Video Communications , chat tool Discord and Pinterest
On Tuesday, Russian courts fined U.S.-based live streaming service Twitch 2 million roubles ($33,000) and messenger service Telegram 11 million roubles ($179,000) for violating military censorship laws where ($1 = 59.0000 roubles) . Russian lawmakers in July approved a bill providing for stricter penalties for foreign internet companies, including the search engine disclaimer.
