[Asia Economy Reporter Yujin Cho] The U.S. social media companies Meta and Twitter have been fined by the Russian government for distributing illegal content.
On the 16th (local time), according to major foreign media, the Moscow Tagansky District Court announced that Meta (formerly Facebook) was fined 13 million rubles (approximately 200 million KRW) for repeatedly posting content that violated the law.
For the same reason, Twitter was fined 10 million rubles, and TikTok was fined 4 million rubles.
Previously, Russian authorities had imposed service speed reduction penalties on Twitter for posting illegal content such as child sexual exploitation material and drug trafficking.
Foreign media reported that Russian authorities are strengthening regulatory pressure on big tech companies as part of efforts to increase control over the internet.
Although Russian authorities cited illegal posts as grounds for the penalties, there are also claims that the move aims to curb social media platforms that serve as the main activity stage for Alexei Navalny supporters, political opponents of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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