Russian authorities warns Facebook it faces a fine unless it deletes content Moscow deems illegal

Russian authorities on Thursday cautioned social media giant Facebook it faces a fine of up to 10 percent of its annual turnover in the country except if it erases content Moscow considers illegal.

Raising the stakes in its stalemate with US Big Tech, state interchanges controller Roskomnadzor told media it was intending to send Facebook’s agents in Russia an official notification saying it had over and over neglected to eliminate banned information.

That, it said, could prompt a fine of 5% or 10% of Facebook’s annual Russian turnover except if the circumstance is cured.

Facebook’s infringement incorporate neglecting to eliminate posts containing child pornography, substance addiction and fanatic substance, the Vedomosti every day announced independently.

Facebook had no immediate remark.

Moscow has expanded strain on unfamiliar tech organizations throughout the last year as a feature of a long-running push to declare more prominent sovereignty over its section of the web, including endeavors to make organizations store Russians’ personal data on its region.

On Wednesday, Russia took steps to block YouTube, claimed by Alphabet Inc., after the video-facilitating giant eliminated Russian state-upheld broadcaster RT’s German-language channels from its site.

Recently, Roskomnadzor kept in touch with Facebook and other social media firms requesting they eliminate posts containing calls for minors to partake in enemy of government fights after the capture of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.

Vedomosti cited specialists who assessed Facebook’s annual Russian turnover at around 12 billion roubles ($165 million).

Roskomnadzor has opened 17 distinctive regulatory bodies of evidence against Facebook this year for neglecting to erase banned substance, court reports showed, with 64 million roubles owed in fines or forthcoming.

A turnover fine would overshadow those exacted up until now.

“Facebook’s administration has not paid the fines,” Vedomosti cited Roskomnadzor as saying.