A Russian court has fined messenger service WhatsApp three million roubles ($37,080) for not deleting banned content.
This is the first time WhatsApp is being fined in Russia for that offence.
Russia branded WhatsApp’s parent company Meta Platforms Inc was an “extremist” organisation last year, banning Meta services like Facebook and Instagram.
WhatsApp, however, has previously been fined for its alleged refusal to comply with Russian data law and store Russian users’ data on servers in the country.
The new fine was due to WhatsApp’s refusal to remove information about the drug Lyrica, whose sale and manufacture are prohibited in Russia.
The court also fined Wikimedia Foundation, which owns Wikipedia, three million roubles, for not removing what Russia considers “false information” about Moscow’s military campaign in Ukraine.
