MOSCOW: A Russian court on Thursday fined messenger service WhatsApp $37,080 (3 million rubles) for not deleting banned content, its first fine in Russia for that offense.
Although WhatsApp鈥檚 parent company Meta Platforms Inc. was last year banned in Russia as an 鈥渆xtremist鈥� organization, the messenger app 鈥� which is widely popular in Russia 鈥� has not previously faced penalties for failing to remove prohibited information.
Other Meta services, Facebook and Instagram 鈥� now banned in Russia 鈥� have been fined over content, as have the likes of Twitter and Alphabet鈥檚 Google.
WhatsApp, however, has previously been fined for its alleged refusal to comply with Russian data law and store Russian users鈥� data on servers in the country.
The RIA news agency reported that Thursday鈥檚 fine was due to WhatsApp鈥檚 refusal to remove information about the drug Lyrica, whose sale and manufacture are prohibited in Russia.
Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside US business hours.
Moscow has for years clashed with Big Tech over content, censorship, data and local representation in disputes that escalated after Russia sent its armed forces into Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.