Viber fined for the first time for refusing to remove false information about a military operation

The Moscow court imposed an administrative fine on Viber for 1 million rubles. The reason was the refusal of the messenger to remove the recognized unreliable information about the military operation in Ukraine. This is the first fine for Viber under Part 2 of Art. 13.41 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation (violation of the procedure for restricting access to information, access to which is subject to restriction).

Roskomnadzor sent six notifications to the messenger about the deletion of data during the year. A representative of Viber at the meeting said that the information was in Ukrainian, but the company still removed it from the search on the territory of the Russian Federation. The company also stated that there was no technical ability to remove communities.

The lawyer asked not to hold the messenger accountable, as Viber “did everything possible and technically available to remove and block communities.” “In addition, this is the first protocol, and the company does not intend to violate the laws of the Russian Federation,” said the representative of the defendant (quoted by RIA Novosti).

For failure to remove information about the military operation, the courts in Russia also fined Facebook (owned by Meta, which is recognized as extremist in the Russian Federation and banned), Telegramfund Wikimedia (owner of Wikipedia).

Laura Keffer