Facebook threatens to fine।।Saibaar

Russia's regulator has warned that fines could be as high as 10 percent of Facebook's annual revenue. Russia's regulator, Roscommonadzor, has said it could impose fines if it does not remove content that is "illegal" in Moscow's eyes. The regulator says Facebook has repeatedly failed to remove banned content from its platform. The agency told Reuters on Thursday that it was planning to formally warn Facebook's representative in Russia. If the current situation does not improve, Russia could face a fine of five to 10 percent of Facebook's annual revenue, Reuters reported. Russia's daily Vedomosti, meanwhile, says the allegations against Facebook include child abuse, drug use, and the platform's failure to remove extremist content. Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Reuters says Russia has been trying to secure government control over Western technology companies for more than a year. The Russian government is also trying to force technology companies to store user data within the country's borders.

Russia threatened to block YouTube last Wednesday. Russia's state-run television network RT's German-language channel has recently shut down YouTube on its own platform, accusing it of violating the Kovid policy. Russia then threatened the video-hosting giant. Earlier this year, Russia sent an official letter to Facebook and other social media urging minors to take part in anti-government protests, asking them to delete such content. The letter was sent by Russian authorities following the arrest of Alexei Navalny, a popular critic of the Kremlin. According to Vedomosti, experts estimate that Facebook's annual income from Russia is 1,200 billion rubles. Reuters could not immediately verify the Russian daily's claim. According to court documents, Roscommonadzor has filed 18 administrative lawsuits against Facebook this year for failing to delete content. But if fines are imposed as annual income, the amount will exceed all previous fines, according to Reuters. Vedomosti says, "Facebook has not yet paid the previous fines."