Fining Google, Facebook For Violating Russian Laws Reflects Int'l Practice - Upper House

Punishing Google and Facebook for violating Russian electoral legislation would be in compliance with international practice, Russian upper house speaker Valentina Matviyenko said on Wednesday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 09th October, 2019) Punishing Google and Facebook for violating Russian electoral legislation would be in compliance with international practice, Russian upper house speaker Valentina Matviyenko said on Wednesday.

The Russian lower house has proposed enshrining in the country's legislation major fines for Facebook and Google for meddling in Russia's domestic affairs. The country's Central Election Commission has qualified many materials published on Facebook and Google as meddling, while Russian communications watchdog Roskomnadzor has accused the companies of publishing political ads on the day of Russia's elections on September 8.

"We are talking about establishing the rules of the game for international corporations, especially internet corporations, ... and regulating their activities in compliance with the national legislation. Such work is being conducted in all the countries, this is a normal international practice," Matviyenko told reporters.

She expressed confidence that global Internet companies working in Russia would not be discouraged by the fines.

"Law-abiding companies will not be discouraged by such initiatives. It is too early to reveal the amount of the fine, it is yet to be discussed, but it is certainly necessary to try to use the possibility of dialogue so that they work in the legal field and in compliance with the Russian legislation," Matviyenko noted.

Punishment for Google and Facebook should be comparable to restrictive measures that Russian journalists face abroad, the Russian upper house speaker emphasized.

After facing Roskomnadzor's accusations, Google has said it supports responsible political ads, and Facebook has noted that advertisers are responsible for complying with local laws, rather than the network itself.

The Russian upper house has invited Google and Facebook to set up a joint contact group to avoid violations of Russian laws on these platforms.