Russian Court Fines TikTok And Instagram For “Gay Propaganda”

The Tagansky Court of Moscow ruled Tuesday that social media platforms Instagram and TikTok were guilty of violating Russia’s law that bans discussions or information regarding LGBTQ+ people or community known as the "Gay Propaganda Law."

In the case against TikTok, Judge Timur Vakhrameev found TikTok guilty under Part 2 of Article 13.41 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation (“Non-deletion by the site owner of information if the obligation to delete is provided for by the legislation of the Russian Federation”) for violating the tenets of the ‘Gay Propaganda Law’ requiring deletion of the offending materials.

According to the Washington Blade, Vakhrameev fined the social network 2 million rubles, which is roughly equivalent to £21,000 or $26,000.

In another case the court found that Meta, parent company of Instagram had also violated ‘Part 2 of Article 13.41,’ and imposed a fine of 4 million rubles, which is roughly equivalent to £43,000 or $54,000, for not deleting materials on Instagram promoting “non-traditional sexual values to minors.”

Since the start of the war with Ukraine, the Russian government’s Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology, and Mass Media, abbreviated as Roskomnadzor, has blocked Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok from operating in the country.

Deputy Head of Roskomnadzor Vadim Subbotin told Russian media outlet Gazeta.ru that his agency also has worked with the courts to fine Google-owned YouTube.

“In total, […] Roskomnadzor imposed fines for not removing prohibited content on YouTube video hosting, the amount of which already exceeds 7 billion rubles,” he said.

Subbotin added that “false information” about the activities of the Russian Armed Forces in Ukraine is being spread on social networks. He said that Roskomnadzor is taking appropriate response measures.

“In response to this, we are taking measures aimed at protecting our citizens and the interests of our country in the information space. Roskomnadzor has blocked more than 85,000 of this kind of materials, including entire resources that systematically generate such content,” said the deputy head of the department.

Earlier, according to Brand Analytics, from February 24 to April 20, the number of active Russian-speaking authors on YouTube decreased by 21%.

The Tagansky Court of Moscow fined Google 7 million rubles on charges of distributing YouTube videos calling for terrorist attacks in Russia the outlet reported that the Prosecutor General’s Office said.

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