Russian courts have today issued a 4 million ruble (approx. $57,000 | £46,300) fine to Amazon-owned Twitch for failing to remove allegedly "fake" content regarding its current military operation in Ukraine.
Twitch has been in the news regularly over its handling of content, not just that which breaks local laws, but also material that doesn"t comply with copyright legislation - followed by takedown requests.
This isn"t the first time that tech and social media companies have fallen foul of Russian regulations, with Facebook, ProtonMail and Google all coming under pressure in recent years. This is due to complaints about the hosting of content that is not permitted under current Russian legislation.
Following the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, many US-based tech companies have withdrawn from Russia entirely. Microsoft, Logitech, and Dell are some of the biggest names to fully pull out of the Russian market over the last 12 months.
Twitch has not yet commented on the fine or the reported "fake" content surrounding the war in Ukraine at the moment.
Source: Reuters