Russia fines WhatsApp for first time for not deleting banned content

A Russian court on Thursday fined messenger service WhatsApp 3 million roubles ($37,080) for not deleting banned content, its first fine in Russia for that offence.

Although WhatsApp’s parent company Meta Platforms Inc was last year banned in Russia as an “extremist” organisation, the messenger app – which is widely popular in Russia – has not previously faced penalties for failing to remove prohibited information.

Other Meta services, Facebook and Instagram – now banned in Russia – have been fined over content, as have the likes of Twitter and Alphabet’s Google.