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Russia's Media Regulator to Check Up on Facebook

Pixbay / MT

Russia's state media watchdog announced Wednesday it intended to check whether Facebook was complying with Russian law.

Russia passed a law in 2015 requiring internet companies to store user data in Russia and make it available for examination by Russian law enforcement.

“In the near future Roskomnadzor will plan a string of supervisory activities aimed at analyzing the activities of the administration of Facebook in terms of the processing of Russian users’ personal information, the terms of services for users, and the content of existing legislation,” the Interfax news agency reported citing a Roskomnadzor statement.

Roskomnadzor head Alexei Zharov warned in September that Facebook could be shuttered in Russia if it did not comply with the 2015 laws.

Last month, Russian Communications Minister Nikolai Nikiforov said that authorities should take a greater interest in Facebook, Google and other foreign companies.

In April, Twitter agreed to transfer its Russian users' data to Russian servers by mid-2018. 

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