Swedish music service Spotify fined 500,000 rubles in Russia for refusing to localize Russians' data - court

MOSCOW. July 28 (Interfax) - A magistrate court of Moscow's Tagansky District on Thursday found the Swedish music platform Spotify guilty of a violation expressed in a refusal to localize Russians' data on the territory of Russia, an Interfax correspondent has reported from the courtroom.

"Spotify AB is found guilty under Part 8 of Article 13.11 of the Russian Code of Administrative Offences (failure by an operator collecting personal data to fulfil the obligation to ensure recording, systematization, accumulation, and storage of Russian citizens' personal data using databases located on the territory of Russia) and is fined 500,000 rubles," the judge said in the decision.

Spotify is a streaming service that can be used for legally listening to music, audio books and podcasts. The service accounts for more than one-third of the world's audio streaming, it is accessible in most countries of North and South America, practically in all countries of Europe, including in Russia, and also in some countries of Asia and Africa, in Australia and Oceania.