TikTok fined 2.6 million rubles by Moscow court

According to Russian media reports, a Moscow court recently ordered the video-sharing app TikTok to pay a fine after failing to remove content related to illegal protests.

TikTok was told to pay an administrative fine of 2.6 million rubles ( about $34,000) , the court's press secretary confirmed to Russian news agency IFAX .

The court ruled that TikTok had committed a crime by not removing content that violated Russian law. TikTok users were known to be posting videos calling on young people to join protests in support of arrested Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny .

Navalny returned to Russia from Germany on January 17 after months of treatment following a nerve agent poisoning in August last year and was ordered detained at a hearing the next day , sparking widespread outrage and street protests.

Russia's media watchdog Roskomnadzor described calls for protests on various social media platforms as "inciting young people" to take part in "illegal activities" and "unauthorized mass events."

"Law enforcement agencies will immediately respond to violations of law to suppress so-called unauthorized actions ," Moscow's Metropolitan Police said in a statement, condemning "the media , the Internet and social networks " for organizing the demonstrations.

TikTok is not the only social media platform to be caught up in the protests. Earlier, Russia's media regulator claimed that Twitter posed a threat to Russian citizens and would slow down online access to Twitter.

It is understood that the slowdown in Twitter’s service will only affect images and videos, not text. The regulator also confirmed that the measures will remain in place until the platform removes all content in the complaints.

In fact, Moscow has been strengthening its control over social media platforms based in the United States to make them comply with Russian law . In December last year , the lower house of Russia's parliament passed two bills that give the state greater power to punish companies such as Facebook and Twitter . The bills include the power to fine the platforms , allow restrictions , etc.

Regarding the fine for TikTok, Reuters also stated that this case is one of a series of measures recently taken by Moscow to put pressure on Western Internet companies .

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