Russia has launched a probe against YouTube for “abusing” its dominant position in the market by making “biased” decisions about comment moderation, a government regulator said on Monday. The Federal Anti-Monopoly Service said that YouTube’s rules relating to the suspension or deletion of accounts are “opaque, biased and unpredictable.” “This leads to sudden blocking and …
Russia’s competition watchdog has launched a formal probe into Yandex, alleging the country’s largest technology company could be abusing its dominant position in the search market to promote its own services at the expense of competitors. The Federal Anti-Monopoly Service (FAS) said Tuesday that Yandex has failed to comply with a previous warning that it must stop favoring …
Anti-monopoly authority open case against Yandex for abusing search dominance Read More
Russia’s internet regulator Roskomnadzor has extended the deadline until May 15 for Twitter to delete content the government objects to or face a ban, the watchdog said on April 6. The state information agency said that it would not block Twitter if it deletes posts relating to pornography and suicide instructions amongst other things. However, …
Kremlin gives Twitter another month to comply with content removal demands Read More
A Moscow court has fined TikTok 2.6 million rubles (some $34,000 at the current exchange rate) for refusing to delete information encouraging teenagers to join an unauthorized street protest in Moscow on January 24, TASS reported. At that time, Russian social network aficionados, including millions of teenagers, had transformed TikTok into a digital rebellion hotspot. “Navalny stay alive,” “Putin’s …
TikTok fined $34,000 for not removing posts on unauthorized street protests in Moscow Read More
While Russian authorities have in recent months ramped up pressure on foreign social media and video hosting platforms, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said today he hopes Russia will not be forced to block them. “No one wants a full ban and it would be silly to advocate for one, but it’s necessary to force these …
The Russian government plans to create a “digital residency” system for foreign IT companies. According to this initiative, Russia will adopt legislation by the end of 2021 that will oblige foreign companies with a client base of more than 100,000–500,000 Russian users to register legal entities in the country and pay taxes. Foreign nationals will …
Russia plans to require foreign IT companies to open local offices and pay taxes Read More
Starting April 1, 2021, tech device manufacturers will be required to pre-install Russian-made, government-approved applications and software onto new devices sold on Russian soil. Dubbed “anti-Apple law,” this legislation was adopted in late 2019 as part of the Putin administration’s “sovereign Internet” strategy. While the law did not specify what devices new electronic devices are …
A Kremlin attempt to slow down Twitter caused government websites to crash and raised new questions about its ambitious plans to regulate the internet. Wednesday last week was supposed to be a big day for Andrei Lipov, a 51-year-old Russian top official trusted with the Kremlin’s most sensitive internet initiatives. A not very successful internet …
Russia’s pursuit of Internet sovereignty backfires, again Read More
The Russian Internet and telecom regulator Rokomnadzor announced today first steps to disrupt Twitter’s speed within the country for failing to remove banned content. These measures are said to affect “100% of cellphones and 50% of personal computers” in the country. “Starting March 10, 2021, centralized response measures have been taken against Twitter to protect Russian citizens and force the [social …
Russia restrains Twitter’s speed and sues other social media over illegal content Read More
Russia will fine seven social media companies for not removing pro-Navalny videos ahead of last Saturday’s nationwide protests, the country’s communications regulator said Wednesday. “Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, VKontakte, Odnoklassniki and YouTube will be fined for non-compliance with requirements to prevent the dissemination of calls to minors to participate in unauthorized rallies,” Roskomnadzor said in …
Russia to fine social media giants for keeping up pro-Navalny videos Read More
A Russian hacker was sentenced to 12 years in a US prison Thursday for consumer data theft worth $19 million from 100 million customers of over a dozen financial service companies, the Justice Department said. Andrei Tyurin, 37, pleaded guilty in 2019 after his extradition from the country of Georgia the previous year, admitting to computer intrusion, wire fraud, …
Following amendments to the Russian tax code which were adopted in July 2020, Russian software developers may, starting from Jan. 1, benefit from significant tax cuts. The new tax regime provides: Reduced rates on the taxes on profit: from 20% to 3% for federal taxes and to 0% for regional taxes; A reduced rate on social security …
