MOSCOW, June 1, 2023 (AFP) – A Russian court imposed a fine on US messenger service WhatsApp on Thursday for failing to delete banned content.
The three-million-rouble ($37,000) fine was the first imposed on WhatsApp for such an offence.
WhatsApp’s parent company, Meta, was banned and branded “extremist” by Russian authorities last year.
Meta’s other platforms, Facebook and Instagram, were blocked in Russia along with Twitter, but WhatsApp remained accessible.
WhatsApp was punished for failing to remove a chat group that offered an anti-depressant whose sale is forbidden in Russia, according to Russian news agencies.
Google, Twitter, TikTok and another messaging app, Telegram, have been fined for failing to delete illegal content in the past.
WhatsApp was previously fined for not keeping the data of Russian users on servers located in Russia, which violates local rules.
