© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A keyboard placed in front of the WhatsApp logo shown in this illustration taken February 21, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
MOSCOW (Reuters) – WhatsApp Messenger faces a maximum fine of 4 million rubles (51,500) after Russia accused it of failing to remove banned content, the RIA news agency said on Friday, citing a Moscow court.
Although WhatsApp’s parent company Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ) was banned last year in Russia as an “extremist” organization, the messaging app – which is hugely popular in Russia – has never before been threatened with legal action over its failure to remove banned information. .
The RIA report did not specify what information WhatsApp allegedly failed to delete. She said that the administrative case was brought by the telecoms regulator Roskomnadzor.
At the start of its military campaign in Ukraine, Russia introduced tough new military censorship laws under which tech companies including Google (NASDAQ:), Wikipedia and Discord have been fined.
($1 = 77.7205 rubles)