Russia to take punitive actions against 5 IT firms for not removing content flagged illegal by Russian Government
Russian Federal Executive Agency responsible for monitoring, controlling and censoring Russian mass media – Roskomnadzor has said to take punitive measures against a string of foreign IT companies, for violating online content laws, which could require search engines to include a disclaimer about the violations.
It wants the IT firms to remove content flagged as illegal by the Government. These IT enterprises include TikTok, Telegram, Zoom, Discord and Pinterest. While it didn’t specify the measures, but said that measures would remain in place unless the flagged content is removed.
A Statement from Roskomnadzor read, “Roskomnadzor has decided to apply enforcement measures in the form of internet users being informed by search engines about the companies’ violations of Russian legislation.”
Russia’s dominant Yandex search engine already carries a disclaimer for some other websites that reads, “Roskomnadzor: website violates Russian law.”
Russia has also threatened to take action against the United States (U.S.) based tech firm – Google. It accused Google of violating harsh new laws and spreading false information about the Russian military. Russia has termed its invasion of Ukraine as a “Special Military Operation”. It had said in March 2022 that websites terming the Special Military Operation and “invasion” would mean websites being blocked.
Russia has fined several, mostly foreign tech firms for not deleting content it deems illegal. Firms violating the law would be sentenced for upto 15 years.
The Russian Court recently imposed a 2 million Rouble (around U.S. $ 33,000) fine on Amazon’s live streaming service – Twitch and an 11 million Rouble (U.S. $ 179,000) fine on Telegram, for violating military censorship laws. Russian lawmakers in July 2022, approved a bill providing for stricter penalties for foreign internet companies, including the search engine disclaimer.
The move to rein in foreign IT firms came as the Head of Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), United Kingdom (U.K.) said that Russia has failed to gain ground in the information war in cyberspace against Ukraine. The GCHQ is an intelligence and security organization responsible for providing signals intelligence and information assurance to the government and armed forces of U.K.
The Director of GCHQ – Jeremy Fleming wrote in an op-ed in the publication, ‘The Economist’, “So far, President Putin has comprehensively lost the information war in Ukraine and in the West. Although that’s cause for celebration, we should not underestimate how Russian disinformation is playing out elsewhere in the world.”
He further said, “Just as with its land invasion, Russia’s initial online plans appear to have fallen short. The country’s use of offensive cyber tools has been irresponsible and indiscriminate.”
He also said Russia has used the same cyberwarfare playbook in Syria and the Balkans and online disinformation is a major part of Russia’s strategy. However, GCHQ has been able to intercept and provide warnings beforehand.
He added that U.K.’s National Cyber Force could respond to Russia by deploying a military unit that employs offensive cyber-tools.
