Russia fines WhatsApp for failing to delete content

By AFP
June 02, 2023

MOSCOW: 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.

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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.

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