Russian court fines WhatsApp messenger 18 mln rubles for repeated failure to localize personal data of Russian users

MOSCOW. July 28 (Interfax) - The Tagansky District Magistrates' Court in Moscow has ruled that the company WhatsApp LLC is guilty of repeatedly failing to localize the personal data of its Russian users on Russian territory, an Interfax correspondent reported from the courthouse on Thursday.

"WhatsApp LLC has been found guilty of committing an administrative offence and fined 18 million rubles," the magistrate said in pronouncing the ruling.

The court established that WhatsApp committed an offence covered by Russian Code of Administrative Offences Article 13.11, Part 9 (repeated failure by an operator collecting personal data to use databases located in Russian territory while recording, systematizing, accumulating, and storing personal data of Russian citizens).

WhatsApp Inc., the company that developed the messenger, has belonged to Meta since October 2014. Moscow's Tverskoi District Court ruled on March 21, 2022 to grant a motion from the Prosecutor General's Office on banning Meta Platforms Inc. activities in Russia. The court resolved that Meta's activities be banned as long as it concerns the operations of its social networks Facebook and Instagram whose actions were found to be extremist.