[ad_1]
Amazon.com Inc has been fined 4 million rubles ($65,000) for failing to remove banned content related to drug use and suicide, a Moscow court said on Tuesday, the first such fine for the U.S. tech giant in Russia.
Russia has fined other foreign tech companies for failing to remove content, which critics say is part of a Kremlin campaign to limit the influence of Western tech companies, especially after Moscow sent its armed forces to Ukraine.
The Tagansky District Court said it had fined Amazon 4 million rubles in two separate cases, but its statement did not specify the amount of the fines. It also fined Amazon’s streaming service Twitch 8 million rubles, also for failing to remove banned content.
Also read: Kamikaze drone explained: Ukraine fears Russian intensified attack
Interfax reported that Amazon’s fines involved drug distribution content and information on how to commit suicide.
Amazon did not respond to a request for comment.
Twitch was previously fined for hosting a video interview with Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, which Moscow said contained “false” information.
On Tuesday, state news agency TASS reported that one of the two fines of 4 million rubles imposed on Twitch involved broadcasting a new interview with Arestovich by a Russian designated “foreign agent” Lawyers conduct.
Twitch did not respond to a request for comment, but TASS quoted Twitch’s lawyers as saying the offending videos had been removed while the case was being heard in court.
Also read: Ukraine says it shot down 85-86% of Russian drones involved in latest attack
Meta Platforms Inc. was found guilty of “extremist activity” and its social networks Facebook and Instagram were banned, while Alphabet’s Google was fined for a series of alleged violations and its Russian unit filed for bankruptcy.
Russia’s communications regulator Roskomnadzor on Tuesday asked Google to restore access to the YouTube account of the Federal Council, the upper house of parliament, according to the Russian news agency.
[ad_2]
Source link