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Fines for WhatsApp and Snapchat in Russia for data storage violation

A court in Russia has fined messaging app WhatsApp (owned by Meta, the parent company of Facebook) and Snap, the company behind Snapchat, for refusing to store the data of Russian users in the country. Local law mandates such data storage.

The Tagansky District Court in Moscow condemned WhatsApp to a fine of 18 million rubles (282,997 million euros) and Snap to a fine of one million rubles (15,722 euros). WhatsApp was first fined 4 million rubles (62,889 euros) for the same offense in August 2021.

A Moscow court also fined Apple 2 million rubles (31,445 euros) earlier this month over the data storage issue. Airbnb, Pinterest and video service Twitch were fined the same amount sometime in June.

The Russian government has been trying for years to establish greater control over the internet and social media. The country relies in particular on a sovereign Internet in order to be less dependent on American and European groups. It’s an effort that has intensified in recent months as he attempts to limit the flow of information about Ukraine.


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