Anton Gorelkin, a member of the Russian lower house's information policy committee, proposed to ban Facebook advertising activities in Russia, saying the US tech giant failed to comply with the Russian legislation
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th May, 2020) Anton Gorelkin, a member of the Russian lower house's information policy committee, proposed to ban Facebook advertising activities in Russia, saying the US tech giant failed to comply with the Russian legislation.
Russia requires foreign tech companies to keep Russian users' personal data only on servers located on its territory. On January 31, communications watchdog Roskomnadzor filed lawsuits against Facebook and Twitter for failing to timely provide information proving that they kept the data on servers located in Russia. On February 13, the court fined Twitter and Facebook 4 million rubles ($56,240) each. Twitter appealed the fine, but the Tagansky District Court of Moscow dismissed it on March 16. Facebook has not appealed the ruling yet. In a post on Telegram on Wednesday, Gorelkin noted that that Facebook has not paid the fine though it should be paid within 60 days after the court ruling is made.
"I think that we need to use my know-how from the significant information resources bill � a ban on Facebook advertising in Russia. We have enough tools to do this, and most importantly, these tools will be really effective. I am sure that once such a measure is introduced, the social network will lose 4 million of ignored fine in less than a day. If a company defiantly fails to comply with our laws, it cannot be considered a reliable advertising service provider," Gorelkin stated.
According to the lawmaker, Facebook pays billions of Dollars in fines for breaching personal data rules in the United States and Europe, while in Russia, the social network has not paid anything for the same violations.
The lawmaker added that a specific mechanism for Facebook advertising ban needed to be worked on.
Last summer, Gorelkin proposed the bill on significant information resources, envisaging that only a Russian company is able to own such resources, and the foreign share in it should be limited to 20 percent. The lawmaker stressed that the initiative also relates to Russian tech giants Yandex and Mail.ru Group. The bill was sent to the information policy committee for completion, but in late March, Gorelkin said that the work on the draft was indefinitely postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
