MOSCOW, December 25. /TASS/. The ruling of the Russian court to impose turnover-based fines on Meta Platforms (previously Facebook) and Google for the systemic failure to remove information prohibited in the country sends an important signal to companies, MP Anton Gorelkin told TASS on Friday.
"Turnover-based fines are an important signal. I hope the companies, critically evaluating the situation, will pay fines and approach the observance of the Russian legislation more responsibly and efficiently," said Gorelkin, a member of the State Duma (lower house) Committee on Informational Policy, Technologies and Communications.
The legislator considers this court decision "absolutely fair." "Turnover-based fines have been imposed for very serious violations. This is not simply the failure to delete illegal content, this is the systemic, demonstrative failure to delete illegal content. Both companies have ignored the norms and requirements of the Russian legislation for years," he explained.
The companies understand that the Russian communications watchdog has even more sensitive measures in hand, Gorelkin noted. "As far as Google is concerned, failing to comply with the Russian court (decision), sanctions may be imposed on the company’s Russian entity. For example, in the event of failure to pay the fine by Google the accounts of its Russian entity may be frozen, which will virtually paralyze the economic operations of the company," he said.
Though Meta Platforms has no representative office in the country, "in the event of the failure to comply with the court decision the advertisement activities of the company may be banned, which will also be sensitive for the prospects of its civilized operations" on the Russian digital market, the politician added.
A justice of the peace court in Moscow fined Meta Platforms over 1.99 bln rubles ($27 mln) on Friday due to the systemic failure to remove prohibited information. Earlier, the court fined Google in the amount over 7.2 bln rubles ($97.7 mln) in a similar lawsuit.