A Russian court on Tuesday fined ByteDance-owned TikTok 3 million rubles (approximately Rs 41,50,000) for the social media platform’s refusal to remove content that Russian authorities say violates anti-transmission laws spread “LGBT propaganda”.
The press agency reported that the case against TikTok based on allegations that the company was “promoting non-traditional, LGBT, feminist values and distorted representations of traditional sexual values” on its platform.
Russia is considering expanding an existing “gay propaganda” law, passed in 2013, that bans any individual or organization from promoting same-sex relationships to children. Lawmakers have argued that the law should be extended to adults and should increase fines for allowing minors to engage in “LGBT propaganda”.
TikTok, which was administratively violated for not removing banned content, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Interfax reported that a TikTok representative in the courtroom requested a termination of the proceedings without giving further details.
The fine marks the latest step in Moscow’s protracted dispute with Big technologywith content fines, data storage requirements and some outright bans that have restricted the influence and reach of Western companies in the country.
Russian authorities say they are defending morality in the face of what they see as non-Russian liberal values promoted by the West, but human rights activists say the law has been widely applied to intimidate the LGBT community of Russia.
In August, a Russian court fined streaming service Twitch 2 million RUB (about Rs 26,21,100) when it hosted a short video that allegedly contained “fake” information about alleged war crimes in the Ukrainian town of Bucha. In the past, Russia has also repeatedly threatened to penalize other social platforms – including Google, Twitter and Wikipedia – which are accused of hosting “fake” content related to the country’s military campaign in the country. Ukraine.
© Thomson Reuters 2022
