Moscow court fines TikTok $340,000 for failure to delete protests contents

A court in Moscow ordered the video sharing app TikTok to pay fines after it failed to delete content related to illegal protests, Russian media reported on Tuesday.

The popular social media app was told to pay an administrative fine of 2.6 million roubles ($34,000; €28,800), a court press secretary confirmed to Russian News Agency IFAX.

The court found TikTok guilty of failing to remove content that was in breach of Russian law. The content in question consisted of user-made videos calling on young people to join protests in support of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.

Moscow takes on social media influence

Russian media watchdog Roskomnadzor described the calls to protests hosted on the various social media platforms as “inciting teenagers” to take part in “illegal activities,” or “unauthorized mass events.”

Russia’s clash with TikTok follows a similar decision against Twitter on Sunday. A court had already ordered a slowdown of image and video content on Twitter after authorities accused the social media giant of failing to delete illegal content.

Both TikTok and Twitter were accused of interfering with Russia’s domestic affairs in January for not deleting posts calling for anti-government rallies.

Courts will also review cases involving Facebook, Telegram and Google LLC in May.

Navalny was arrested on his return to Russia on January 17. The move was met with widespread anger and street protests.