Russian Court Finds Twitter Failed to Provide Information on Data

[Rogue Valley]

Russian Court Finds Twitter Failed to Provide Information on Data – TASS | The Moscow Times

4/5/19
A Russian court fined Twitter on Friday for failing to supply information to Russia's authorities on where it stores its Russian users' personal data, the state-run TASS news agency reported. Russian legislation requires social media companies to store user data on servers located in Russia. At the moment, the only tools Russia has to enforce its data rules are fines that typically only come to very small sums or blocking the offending online services, which is an option fraught with technical difficulties.

All social media and websites operating in Russia are required by law to provide Russian security services with access to all servers and the data for all user accounts. Encryption is banned. VPN providers in Russia are removing their servers in Russia rather than provide the FSB with access. Some results from search engines (such as Google) are blocked. Criticizing the government or government officials is against the law.