The court fined Zoom 115 million rubles for operating in Russia without a branch

The Magistrate Court of the Tagansky District of Moscow fined the platform for organizing online conferences Zoom Video Communications for 115 million rubles. for work in Russia without opening a representative office in the country, reports “RIA News”.

The protocol for the company was compiled according to Part 2 of Art. 13.49 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, which implies liability for the work of foreign companies in Russia without a feedback form on its website, without registering a personal account on the Roskomnadzor website and without a branch or Russian legal entity. For companies, the penalty includes a fine of 1/15 to 1/10 of annual revenue.

When announcing the decision, judge Timur Vakhrameev explained that a fine was imposed on the company in the amount of 1/10 of revenue for 2022.

In January 2022, the “landing” law came into force in Russia. It obliges foreign Internet companies with a daily audience of more than 500,000 users to open their authorized representative offices in Russia, create an electronic feedback form with Russian users, create a personal account on the Roskomnadzor website and install a recommended traffic counter on their information resources. They must also limit access to information found to violate Russian law.

In February 2022, Roskomnadzor reported that Zoom Video Communications had registered a personal account on the agency’s website and announced that it was considering opening a representative office in Russia. In August of the same year, the department clarified that Zoom does not comply with the requirement to remove prohibited information and the basic requirements of the law.

October 12 Magistrates’ Court fined platform for 15 million rubles. for repeated refusal to localize the data of Russian users on the territory of the Russian Federation. The company was found guilty under Part 9 of Art. 13.11 Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation (repeated failure by the operator to store personal data in databases on the territory of the Russian Federation). In July 2022, the service was already fined 1 million rubles. for violation of this provision (Part 8 of Article 13.11 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation).