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Russia is fining Facebook a whopping 3,000 rubles (approximately $47) for failing to comply with the country's data privacy law and store data of Russian Facebook users on servers located inside Russia. The fine serves as a stern warning for any social media company who thinks about violating its data privacy laws: Russia is not messing around. ZDNet reports: The legal proceedings started after a complaint from Roskomnadzor (Russia's Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media), the country's telecommunications watchdog. Roskomnadzor lodged a complaint after Facebook failed to comply with Russia's data localization legislation -- Federal Law No. 242-FZ. Adopted on December 31, 2014, the law entered into effect on September 1, 2015. According to this legislation, all domestic and foreign companies that accumulate, store, or process the data of Russian citizens must do it on servers physically located inside Russia's borders.

Russian authorities have very rarely enforced this new law. The most high-profile case remains LinkedIn, which Roskomnadzor banned in November 2016, and the site remains blocked to this day, according to Roskomnadzor's list of banned sites that local ISPs must block on their networks. Russian news agency Interfax, which broke the story earlier today, said Facebook did not represent itself in court. Interfax also reports that Twitter was fined the same sum last week.

Russia is fining Facebook a whopping 3,000 rubles (approximately $47) for failing to comply with the country's data privacy law and store data of Russian Facebook users on servers located inside Russia. The fine serves as a stern warning for any social media company who thinks about violating its data privacy laws: Russia is not messing around. ZDNet reports: The legal proceedings started after a complaint from Roskomnadzor (Russia's Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media), the country's telecommunications watchdog. Roskomnadzor lodged a complaint after Facebook failed to comply with Russia's data localization legislation -- Federal Law No. 242-FZ. Adopted on December 31, 2014, the law entered into effect on September 1, 2015. According to this legislation, all domestic and foreign companies that accumulate, store, or process the data of Russian citizens must do it on servers physically located inside Russia's borders.

Russian authorities have very rarely enforced this new law. The most high-profile case remains LinkedIn, which Roskomnadzor banned in November 2016, and the site remains blocked to this day, according to Roskomnadzor's list of banned sites that local ISPs must block on their networks. Russian news agency Interfax, which broke the story earlier today, said Facebook did not represent itself in court. Interfax also reports that Twitter was fined the same sum last week.

Google has reached a $7.8 million antitrust settlement with Russian watchdog group FAS. According to BGR, the company will loosen restrictions on Android's built-in search engines to allow for Russian competitors to take a share of the pie. From the report: Android's heavy reliance on Google services is to be expected, but in 2015 the Russian antitrust group -- officially the Federal Antimonopoly Service -- ruled that Google was breaking the law by forcing users to lean on Google for search. The ruling was the result of a complaint filed by Yandex, a Russian competitor to Google that runs the largest search engine in the country as well as web mail, news, maps, and other services. Google's settlement of the issue comes with the condition that Android will no longer lock down the search engine to Google, and must allow users the ability to change it if they want from within the Chrome web browser. Google will also loosen its exclusivity of the default apps on Android devices sold in Russia, potentially allowing for Yandex and other regional competitors to muscle in and replace the built-in apps with their own versions, depending on user preference.

An anonymous reader shares an update on Google's ongoing battle with Russian regulators: Google suffered a major blow in Russia on Monday, after the Moscow Arbitration court sided with an earlier ruling that Google had violated the country's anti-trust rules by having its apps and services bundled on Android smartphones. Yandex, a Russia-based search engine, last year sued Google over "anti-competitive practices," saying that Google was abusing its dominant position in the market to hurt competition. In response, Google had noted that Android, which roughly owns 80 percent of the market, is a free and open source operating system. At the time, the Russian Federal Anti-Monopoly Service (FAS) ruled that Android users must not be catered with Google's homegrown apps and services. The Moscow's Arbitration Court ruling said on Monday that it fully supports the earlier FAS decision. According to an Ars Technica report, "Google will now be required to change its business practices with smartphone makers in Russia, or else face a fine if it fails to adhere to the ruling."

hypnosec writes: The government of Russia has announced a ~$110,000 bounty to anyone who develops technology to identify users of Tor, an anonymising network capable of encrypting user data and hiding the identity of its users. The public description (in Russian) of the project has been removed now and it only reads "cipher 'TOR' (Navy)." The ministry said it is looking for experts and researchers to "study the possibility of obtaining technical information about users and users' equipment on the Tor anonymous network."

mask.of.sanity writes "Russia has banned digital currency Bitcoin under existing laws and dubbed use of the crypto-currency as 'suspicious'. The Central Bank of Russia considers Bitcoin as a form of 'money substitute' or 'money surrogate' (statement in Russian) which is restricted under Russian law. However, unlike use of restricted foreign currencies, Bitcoin has been outright banned. The US Library of Congress has issued a report examining the regulatory approaches national financial authorities have taken to the currency."