Russia slaps fines on Facebook, Telegram over failure to remove illegal content

A Moscow district court on Thursday slapped additional multi-million-ruble fines on Facebook and Telegram for failing to remove banned content in accordance with the Russian media watchdog’s requirements, Zulfiya Gurinchuk, the court’s spokeswoman, told Sputnik.

The court, in particular, considered four protocols against Facebook earlier in the day, with the overall fine amounting to 17 million rubles ($236,000), according to the official.

“Telegram was found guilty of committing an administrative offense under Part 2 of Article 13.41 of the administrative offenses code of Russia. It was sentenced to an administrative fine of 10 million rubles,” Gurinchuk added.