Twitter, which faces potentially heavy fines, is increasingly caught between regulations.
Good morning. David Meyer here in Berlin, filling in for Alan.
Twitter has been annoying the Kremlin recently by labeling or blocking accounts that spread Russian propaganda. Now, the Russian government might exact some revenge.
This morning the Russian media regulator, Roskomnadzor, announced Twitter has been “maliciously” breaking the law by failing to remove nearly 3,000 illegal posts. The posts apparently contain information that is prohibited in Russia: according to the watchdog, 2,336 discuss suicide, 352 include child sexual abuse material, and 174 discuss drugs.
Roskomnadzor said Twitter’s violations date back to 2017, adding that the company could be in line for a fine of 800,000 rubles ($10,800) to 8 million rubles. That’s obviously not a lot of money for a firm of Twitter’s size, but, as the regulator also noted, a “second offense” could see the fine increased to a fifth of Twitter’s total annual revenues.
Twitter declined to comment on Roskomnadzor’s announcement. At the time of publication, Roskomnadzor had also not clarified whether it would imminently move to the fining stage, and whether Twitter’s alleged transgressions over the last few years would collectively count as a first offense or something weightier.
There is of course nothing new about the Putin regime’s keenness on censoring the Russian internet—particularly when facing opposition protests, as is the case now—nor about its antagonism towards Western platforms over their unwillingness to aid that effort.
However, this episode does come at a time when Western governments are also more closely examining the question of regulating online speech—and it handily demonstrates how different countries’ norms can clash, leaving platforms caught in the middle.
There are certain types of content that pretty much every country agrees is worth filtering out, ranging from the plainly abhorrent (child sexual exploitation) to the economically undesirable (copyright infringement). But there’s little agreement between Moscow and Brussels regarding the discussion of drugs, for example—and Brussels and Washington don’t see eye-to-eye on the issue of hate speech, either.
A platform like Twitter has for years had to balance the increasingly draconian demands of some countries with its own free-speech principles, as well as those embedded in the laws back home. Soon, it may face an even more fragmented regulatory landscape that demands it makes complex, sometimes conflicting decisions in different markets.
Such things are perhaps to be expected as the Internet matures, but I certainly don’t envy Twitter or its rivals the task of pleasing all those masters. More news below.
David Meyer
@superglaze
david.meyer@fortune.com
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This edition of CEO Daily was edited by David Meyer.
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