Russia: Moscow court fines Facebook for failing to remove illegal content

On 24 December 2021, the Magistrate's Court of the Tagansky District of Moscow imposed a fine on Facebook (now Meta Platforms) of RUB 1.99 billion for failing to remove unlawful online content. The court found the company in violation of Part 5 of Article 13.41 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, which requires companies to restrict access and delete online content classified as illegal by the Russian authorities. According to Roskomnadzor, the agency that started the administrative proceeding, Google failed to comply with the new legal requirements adopted on 30 December 2020 and refused to restrict access to more than 2’000 flagged illegal materials.