Russian justice on Tuesday sentenced the American digital giant Meta (ex-Facebook) and the social network TikTok to fines for not having deleted LGBT publications, announced the Russian press agencies.
Russian justice on Tuesday sentenced the American digital giant Meta (ex-Facebook) and the social network TikTok to fines for not having deleted LGBT publications, announced the Russian press agencies.
Fine of two million rubles
The Moscow court in Taganski first sentenced Meta, the parent company of the social networks Facebook and Instagram, to a fine of four million rubles (about 50,200 euros at the current rate) for not having removed content making the ” propaganda” of LGBT content.
In another hearing, the Moscow Mirovoi court sentenced the TikTok platform, a subsidiary of the Chinese group ByteDance, to a fine of two million rubles for the same reason. Large digital companies are regularly fined in Russia, accused of not erasing content deemed dangerous for minors or linked to the opposition.
Prohibition for “extremism”
This pressure has been further reinforced since the start of the Russian military operation in Ukraine, which has seen many independent and opposition sites banned. In March, Russian authorities also banned Facebook and Instagram for “extremism”.
In 2013, Russia passed a law against homosexual “propaganda” among minors, which was used as a pretext to ban pride marches and the display of rainbow flags.