Russian President has signed a law that will mean social media giants will need to open offices in Russia by January next year if the daily viewership on their websites exceeds 500 thousand Russian users.
The established branches will have to “fully represent the interests of the parent companies” and bear responsibility for any violations of Russian legislation by the tech giants.
Russia has recently fined tech companies for failing to delete content it deems illegal. Around 20 firms including e-commerce and retailers will likely be affected, including Facebook, YouTube, TikTok & Google among others.
If companies fail to comply with laws they could face restrictions from bans on ads to full or partial suspension.
“A foreign entity, carrying out activities on the internet in Russia, is obliged to create a branch, open an office or establish a Russian legal entity,” the new law states.
Companies that will be subject to the new legislation are those that distribute information in the Russian language (or those spoken by the peoples of Russia), promote adverts targeting Russian citizens or “process information” from them; and those that are receiving money from Russian citizens.
Forsided, 01.07.2021
Source: Sputnik News