PRESS: Twitter contests 4 mln rbl fine for data storage violations

MOSCOW, Oct 6 (PRIME) -- Twitter will sue Russia’s Federal Bailiffs Service for a 4 million ruble fine, unlike Facebook that simply ignores the penalties for refusal to store local users’ data in the country, business daily Kommersant reported on Tuesday.

Twitter filed lawsuits on October 1 to two Moscow district courts with bailiff Maxim Dumakov mentioned as a defendant in both cases as he was in charge of a fine imposed on the U.S. company for its refusal to localize servers with Russians’ data.

Russia has been watching Twitter and Facebook closely for storage of user data for two years. The U.S. companies were already fined several times.

“After the failure to block Telegram, the government won’t (try to mute the resources) to avoid losing face. The situation with Facebook and Twitter is not so desperate after all. Anyway, it won’t be the communications service that will make the decision,” Internet Research Institute General Director Karen Kazaryan said.

(78.1281 rubles – U.S. $1)

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