20 Apr 2021 18:51

Twitter appeals fines amounting to 8.9 mln rubles for not removing calls for unlawful activities - Moscow court

MOSCOW. April 20 (Interfax) - Twitter has filed an appeal seeking the reversal of a court ruling fining it in aggregate 8.9 million rubles (over $116,000) for not removing calls for teenagers to join unpermitted protests at the end of January, Moscow's Tagansky District Court said on Tuesday.

"The court has received appeals against the court rulings that found Twitter responsible for administrative offences," Tagansky District Court press secretary Zulfiya Gurinchuk told Interfax.

The court has not yet set dates for appeal hearings, Gurinchuk said.

A magistrate at the Tagansky District Court ruled on April 2 to find Twitter responsible for committing administrative offences on January 23 and January 24 and imposed fines of 3.2 million, 3.3 million, and 2.4 million rubles on it.

Twitter disagreed with the ruling and asked the Tagansky District Court to reverse it and clear the company of said administrative offence.

The press service for the Russian telecommunications watchdog, Roskomnadzor, said in commenting on the court ruling that the popular Internet platforms visited by hundreds of thousands of Russian citizens every day bear great social responsibility. "Failure to restrict access to unlawful information endangers the lives and health of users, especially children and minors," it said.

A magistrate's court is to hold hearings of three similar reports concerning Facebook and Google LLC on May 4.

According to the reports, said companies committed an administrative offence covered by Code of Administrative Offences Article 13.41, Part 2 (failure to remove information or a webpage by the owner of an information resource on the Internet while Russian law obliges them to remove such information). This offence carries a fine ranging from 800,000 to four million rubles.

According to the court, the companies committed the offences in the period from January 22 through 24, 2021.

Russia saw unpermitted demonstrations in support of opposition activist Alexei Navalny on January 23 and 31 and February 2. Navalny was arrested upon returning to Russia from Germany on January 17. Moscow's Simonovsky District Court ruled on February 2 to replace a suspended sentence earlier given to him in the so-called Yves Rocher case with real jail time of three years and six months.