Roskomnadzor: Administrative offense protocol filed on Facebook which now facing turnover-based fine of up to 1/10 of annual revenue

MOSCOW. Oct 5 (Interfax) - The Russian telecommunications regulator Roskomnadzor has filed an administrative offense protocol on Facebook over the Internet company's refusal to delete content banned in Russia, which means that the firm is facing a turnover-based fine of up to 1/10 of its annual revenue.

"Roskomnadzor has compiled in the presence of a Facebook Inc. representative an administrative protocol under Part 5 of Article 13.41 of the Administrative Offenses Code of the Russian Federation for a repeat violation of the procedure for restricting access to materials containing banned information on social media such as Facebook and Instagram. The U.S.-based IT company is facing a turnover-based fine of 1/20 to 1/10 of annual revenue for such repeat violation of the law," the Russian telecoms regulator said in a statement on Tuesday.

The administrative offense protocol will soon be submitted to a court for further consideration, it said.

"As evidence of the wrongdoing committed by Facebook Inc., the protocol contains links to nine materials on which the agency has sent more than 110 notifications (60 notifications on four materials published on Facebook and 53 notifications on five materials on Instagram) since 2019," it said.

After receiving a notification of summoning for filing a protocol envisaging an imposition of a turnover-based fine, the moderation service of the Facebook and Instagram social media platforms banned those nine materials indicated in the protocol, it said.

"But under the Russian law, a company must do this within 24 hours of the receipt of a notification from Roskomnadzor. In the event of violation of the procedure for restricting access, Article 13.41 of the Administrative Offenses Code of the Russian Federation stipulates penalties for repeat offenses in the form of turnover-based fines," it said.

Earlier in 2021, Roskomnadzor compiled 20 protocols under Article 13.41 of the Administrative Offenses Code of the Russian Federation for failing to restrict access to content banned in Russia. The court fined the company for an aggregate of 70 million rubles. Court decisions have become enforceable with regard to 43 million rubles of the fines. Facebook has not yet paid the fines.

Neither has Facebook localized databases with Russian users' personal data in Russia, as was requested by Roskomnadzor. The court has fined the company 15 million rubles for a repeat failure to meet the requirement of personal data localization under Part 9 of Articled 3.11 of the Administrative Offenses Code of the Russian Federation.