U.S.-based Ookla fined 1,000,000 rubles for refusal to localize Russians' personal data - court

MOSCOW. July 12 (Interfax) - Moscow's Tverskoi District Court has found the United States' Ookla, the owner of Internet speed service Speedtest, of the administrative offense described as a failure to localize the personal data of Russian users in Russia, an Interfax correspondent reported from the courtroom on Tuesday.

"[The court has ruled] to find Ookla guilty under Part 8 of Article 13.11 of the Administrative Offenses Code of the Russian Federation (the operator's failure to meet the requirement to record, systemize, accumulate and store Russian citizens' personal data, using databases located in Russian territory) and to impose a fine in the amount of one million rubles," the judge said, reading out the ruling in the case.

Representatives of the online service asked the court to close the administrative case over the absence of elements constituting an offense.

Ookla is a world leading company in Internet testing and the creator of the popular Speedtest Intelligence service, which analyzes Internet speed and connection delays. Tests are facilitated in an Internet browser or on platforms such as Windows, Android, IOS, Apple TV and MacOS. According to data released for 2021, Speedtest conducted more than 38 billion tests.