Why Facebook Removes Content in Russia?

Facebook complied with Russia’s request to delete content that Moscow deems illegal. According to the Russian state communications regulator, the social network could still be fined severely for its slow response.

Last week, Roskomnadzor exposed Facebook with a fine of up to 10% of its year Russian turnover if it did not remove content Russia has banned in the country. The move of the agreement can be seen as a signal that Facebook is responding to pressure from Russia.

Experts estimate the Russian turnover of Facebook at 165-588 million USD. According to Roskomnadzor, Facebook has already removed banned content from both the platform itself and Instagram. However, according to the Russian news newspaper, the country could still impose a fine because the response was not fast.

A Roskomnadzor spokesman said Facebook had not removed all content banned by Moscow, and the action was only partial. According to the official, a total of 1,043 points were deleted on Facebook and 973 on Instagram. As it is known, Russia has already fined Facebook once this year for not deleting the content. According to court archives the fines, some of which are still being appealed, sum 70 million rubles.

Roskomnadzor earlier this year called on social media firms, including Facebook, to remove posts involving minors in anti-government protests following the arrest of Alexei Navalny, a Kremlin prisoner. According to Russian media, Facebook violations include promoting drug use and deleting posts containing child pornography.

Conclusion

It should be noted that the Russian authorities warned the social media giant back in September. Facebook has not commented on this fact. As it is known, Moscow increased the pressure on foreign technology companies last year; The reason is suggested to be the protection of Russian personal data and the assertion of sovereignty over the Internet segment.

Roskomnadzor has created 17 particular administrative cases against Facebook this year for removing banned content. 

This is not the first attempt by Russia to put pressure on social media. The country threatened to block YouTube last month after removing German-language channels of the Russian state broadcaster RT from its site. Russia has accused YouTube of unprecedented information aggression.

It seems that Facebook has made a concession and met Russia’s demand. It is noteworthy that the social networking giant, along with Instagram and WhatsApp, was down for several hours on October 4, causing severe financial losses to the company.