The Tagansky District Court of Moscow fined Telegram Group Inc. for a total amount of 5 million rubles, the press service of the court told RBC.
Telegram Messenger Inc. (Telegram Messenger Inc.) was found guilty of committing an administrative offense, ”the message says.
The press service of the court clarified that the court found Telegram Group Inc. guilty. in an administrative offense under Part 2 of Art. 13.41 of the Administrative Code (violation of the procedure for restricting access to information and the procedure for deleting this information), the punishment for which provides for a fine for legal entities of up to 4 million rubles. Under two identical protocols, the total amount of the fine for the company was 5 million rubles. The court also added that the “person involved” did not appear at the hearing.
In March, Roskomnadzor announced that it had drawn up administrative protocols under Part 2 of Art. 13.41. Administrative Code of Russia for “failure to delete or untimely removal of information that involved teenagers in taking part in unauthorized mass events” in relation to several social networks, including Telegram. It was then about the rallies not coordinated by the authorities in support of Alexei Navalny, which took place in January this year in Russian cities.
“The basis for drawing up the protocols was the failure to delete or untimely removal by Internet platforms of information that involved adolescents in illegal activities,” the ministry said in a statement. As Interfax was told in court, two administrative protocols were received by the court in relation to Telegram.
On February 1, 2021, amendments to the law came into force in Russia, according to which social networks are obliged to independently find and block illegal content. This type of content, according to the law, also includes calls to participate in unauthorized actions, insulting the state and its symbols.
Earlier, the social network “VKontakte” was fined by the magistrate court of St. Petersburg 1.5 million rubles. for a video calling for rallies. The press service of the social network did not agree with the court's decision and said that they would appeal it.
On April 6, the Tagansky court of the city of Moscow fined the social network TikTok 2.6 million rubles. under a similar article (Article 13.41 of the Administrative Code of Russia).
Earlier, the same court fined the social network Twitter three times for a total amount of 8.9 million rubles, and later threatened it with new fines in the amount of 24 million rubles if the social network continues to refuse to delete data at the request of Roskomnadzor.
