The court found Twitter guilty on three counts of violating
regulations on restricting unlawful content, ordering the company to pay three
fines adding up to 8.9 million rubles (about $117,000).
The ruling comes two weeks after Russia's state
communications watchdog Roskomnadzor threatened to block Twitter within 30 days
if it doesn't take steps to remove banned content.
Roskomnadzor last month accused Twitter of failing to remove
content encouraging suicide among children, as well as information about drugs
and child pornography. The agency announced on March 10 it was slowing down the
speed of uploading photos and videos to the platform because of that. Twitter
in response has emphasized its policy of zero tolerance for child sexual
exploitation, the promotion of suicide and drug sales.
Less than a week later, deputy chief of Roskomnadzor Vadim
Subbotin argued that Twitter still wasn't complying with the demands of the
Russian authorities, adding that "if things go on like this, then in a
month it will be blocked."
Russian authorities earlier this year criticized social
media platforms for bringing tens of thousands of people into the streets
across Russia in January to demand the release of jailed Russian opposition
leader Alexei Navalny, President Vladimir Putin's most well-known critic. The
wave of demonstrations was the largest in years and posed a major challenge to the
Kremlin.
The authorities alleged that social media platforms failed
to remove calls for children to join the protests. Putin has urged police to
act more to monitor social platforms and to track down those who "draw the
children into illegal and unsanctioned street actions."
Twitter on Friday offered no comment on the Moscow court
ruling.
The Russian government's efforts to tighten control of the
internet and social media date back to 2012, when a law allowing authorities to
blacklist and block certain online content was adopted. Since then, a growing
number of restrictions targeting messaging apps, websites and social media
platforms have been introduced in Russia.
The government has repeatedly aired threats to block
Facebook and Twitter but stopped short of outright bans, probably fearing the
move would elicit too much public outrage. Only the social network LinkedIn,
which wasn't very popular in Russia, has been banned by the authorities for the
failure to store its user data in Russia.
However, some experts have said Russian authorities might be
seriously considering the possibility of bans this time around.
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