Russia fines Google more than 41,000 USD for violating personal data policy

With a fine of $41,017, this is the first time Google has been fined for violating the law on personal data and the company has also confirmed but did not comment.

Last month, Russia’s information watchdog Roskomnadzor said Google, which belongs to parent company Alphabet, could be fined up to 6 million rubles for not storing Russian users’ personal data in its databases. Russian territory.

Russian officials have also been unhappy that Google has blocked some YouTube accounts of media or pro-Kremlin views.

Russia is tightening regulations on many technology corporations and social networks. On July 22, Russia fined technology company Facebook 6 million rubles and messaging app Telegram 11 million rubles because the two companies did not remove content that Moscow considers illegal.

At the end of May, Google and Facebook were also fined for not removing content banned in Russia, while Twitter has been fined for reducing transmission speed since March.

Roskomnadzor said Facebook and Twitter were fined 4 million rubles each in February 2020 for violating Russian data laws. Russia is also considering a law that will force foreign technology companies to open representative offices in the country or face fines.

Preliminarily, there are about 20 platforms that have to open branches or representative offices in Russia such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, YouTube, Gmail, Google, Amazon.