MOSCOW (Reuters) – A Moscow court told state bailiffs on Thursday to enforce the collection of 26 million roubles ($361,400) in fines imposed on U.S. social media giant Facebook for failing to delete content that Russia deems illegal.
Moscow’s Tagansky District Court issued the order over eight fines that Facebook has not paid, the court said in a statement.
Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
State communications regulator Roskomnadzor has filed 20 cases against Facebook this year and imposed fines totalling around 70 million roubles.
Russia says Facebook has not paid any of the fines, highlighting the challenges it faces in cracking down on foreign tech giants.
Roskomnadzor is now seeking to impose a much bigger fine on Facebook that would total 5-10% of the company’s annual turnover in Russia due to what it says are repeated legal violations.
($1 = 71.9420 roubles)
(Reporting by Alexander Marrow; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
