Image for article titled Russia Fines Google, Airbnb, Pinterest, and Twitch for Not Storing Data Where the Kremlin Can Get It

Several Silicon Valley darlings are in hot water with Russian authorities for violating the country's data protection laws.

The companies were fined by a Moscow court for not storing the data on Russian citizens. Repeated violations of the law can lead to fines from 6 million to 18 million rubles. There is a fine between $112,000 and $336,000 in the US dollars. This is the second time that the company has gotten fined for violating the country's data storage laws.

TrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkia As critics pointed out at the time, storing data locally serves a practical purpose for Russian authorities; it opens doors to extrajudicial access to any information stored on those server, which can be tricky when data is being stored thousands of miles away.

Russian authorities have listed hundreds of different tech companies that are complying with the laws, but many are not. The platform was completely nixed in Russia in 2016 due to Linkedin's failure to comply. Facebook and other Meta-owned platforms were fined relatively little for failing to translate their Russian data stores.

When we hear back, we will let you know about the latest fines.