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Russian Ministry of Defense: 37 Ukrainian drones destroyed in 4 hours over regions of Russia and the Black Sea.
Sheikh Qassem: Our supporters make up more than half of Lebanon's population, and all of these people are united under the banner of protecting Lebanon, its Resistance, its people, and its integrity.
Sheikh Qassem: There will be no phased handing in of our arms. [The Israelis] must first enact the agreement before we start talking about a defensive strategy.
Sheikh Qassem: Be brave in the face of foreign pressures, and we will be by your side in this stance.
Sheikh Qassem: Stripping us of our arms is like stripping us of our very soul, and this will prompt us to show them our might.
Sheikh Qassem: We will not abandon our arms, for they gave us dignity; we will not abandon our arms, for they protect us against our enemy.
Sheikh Qassem: The US efforts we are seeing are aimed at sabotaging Lebanon and constitute a call for sedition.
Sheikh Qassem: If you truly want to establish sovereignty and work for Lebanon’s interests, then stop the aggression.
Sheikh Qassem: The United States, which is meddling in Lebanon, is not trustworthy but rather poses a danger to it.
Sheikh Qassem: The United States is preventing the weapons that protect the homeland.

Russia fines WhatsApp, Snapchat, & others over data storage violations

  • By Al Mayadeen English
  • Source: Agencies
  • 28 Jul 2022 18:31
3 Min Read

Moscow has previously fined big tech companies over content, censorship, data, and local representation at the beginning of the special military operation in Ukraine.

  • x
  • Moscow has previously fined big tech companies.
    Moscow has previously fined big tech companies.

A Russian court fined WhatsApp, Snapchat, and other foreign firms for refusing to store Russian users' data domestically.

Moscow has previously fined big tech companies over content, censorship, data, and local representation since the beginning of the special military operation in Ukraine.

Last August, the court ruled that social media giants Twitter and Facebook have to pay 17 million rubles ($227,882) and 15 million rubles ($201,072) respectively for repeated violations of the law, which requires that data on Russian users be stored in Russia. It also for the first time penalized messaging app WhatsApp – owned by Facebook – for 4 million rubles ($53,619) for the same offense.

Russian laws ‘on personal data’ obliges national and foreign companies to store personal information of Russian citizens on the country’s territory only. This also applies to foreign companies that are not physically present in Russia.

Moscow's Tagansky District Court fined WhatsApp 18 million rubles ($301,255) for a repeat offense. WhatsApp's fine exceeded the 15 million rouble penalty handed to Alphabet Inc's GOOGL.O Google for a repeat infringement last month.

Read next: Russia fines Google $264,000 for storing users' data in US, Europe

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Tinder owner Match Group was fined 2 million rubles, Snap and Hotels.com, owned by Expedia Group Inc EXPE.O, were fined 1 million rubles, and music streaming service Spotify SPOT.N was fined 500,000 rubles.

It is worth noting that Spotify closed its Russian office in March and abruptly ceased operations in the country. 

According to the RIA news agency, a lawyer for Hotels.com stated that the company did not recognize the charge as an offense, claiming that the company had stopped processing data from Russian users since April 1.

Soon after the war in Ukraine began, Russia restricted access to Meta's flagship platforms Facebook and Instagram, as well as fellow social network Twitter.

Read more: Anti-Russian propaganda bombards internet users

This came after Meta permitted its users to incite violence against the Russians and Russian soldiers on its social media platforms in light of Moscow's special military operation in Ukraine.

Amid the wave of anti-Russian narrative spewing from the West, YouTube blocked Russian news outlets, such as RT and Sputnik, globally, and later, Moscow accused it of spreading threats against Russian citizens.

Read more: Russian Embassy: Meta must be held accountable for allowing calls for violence

  • Russia
  • Whatsapp
  • Meta
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