A Russian court on Tuesday fined Meta Platforms Inc., the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, for refusing to remove lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) information.
After failing to erase content that contained “LGBT propaganda,” a Moscow district court has ordered the US technology behemoth to settle four million rubles (about $53,000/50,000 euros) in damages, according to news agency Interfax reports.
A 2013 Russian law, which has been denounced as “state-enforced intolerance” by Western countries, prohibits the “promotion of non-traditional sexual relations to children.”
A request for comment from Meta did not receive a response right away.
Earlier this month, the Russian Communications Regulatory Commission said that it had opened two administrative actions against Google for failing to delete prohibited material from its YouTube channel.
Meta Platforms Inc. and other technology companies are routinely fined by the Russian government for failing to remove information at the request of authorities.
Since the beginning of Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine, the country has increased its pressure on social media platforms, blocking Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, among other platforms.
Russia’s conservative and religious sectors have a negative attitude toward the LGBT community, which has resulted in an increase in attacks on the LGBT population there.
In 2013, Moscow approved a contentious rule prohibiting the “promotion” of homosexuality among adolescents. It was used to prohibit the holding of pride marches and the raising of rainbow flags on public property.
Since the year 2020, the constitution says that marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman, thereby prohibiting homosexual marriage in the country.
Edited by – Vanshika Sahu
Published by – Mohd Faizan
