Russia to dialogue with tech giants over possible ban

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Russia to dialogue with tech giants over possible ban

In this picture illustration, Russia's state communications regulator, Roskomnadzor, is reflected in a laptop screen.

MOSCOW Reuters reported on Monday that Moscow was ready to dialogue with foreign technology companies over possible bans for those who don't have official representation in Russia by the end of the year.

The report said companies would only be blocked as a last resort, dialling back a bit from last month's demands by regulator Roskomnadzor that 13 foreign and mostly U.S. technology companies in Russia would be set up by January 1 or face possible restrictions or outright bans.

Russia has been slowing down the speed of Twitter since March because of the fact that it hasn't deleting content that Moscow deems illegal. It is not allowed to promote illegal behaviour on Twitter.

Google and Facebook are facing Russian court cases this month for violations of the same legislation. When the court dates were announced, neither company responded to requests for comment.

The law on setting up representation in Russia was put into effect on July 1 and targets foreign social media giants and tech companies with more than 500,000 daily users.

The deputy head of Roskomnadzor, Vadim Subbotin, told Interfax that slowdowns and blocking are not something we want to apply in principle. When other arguments don't work, it's a last resort.

If companies don't get to open representative offices in our country by the deadline, it doesn't mean that we will immediately start taking action against them. Subbotin said Roskomnadzor is prepared to engage in dialogue with companies that show they are working to comply with the legislation.

Roskomnadzor demanded last month few details of what they were required to do, and targeted some that already have Russian offices, according to a demand from Roskomnadzor. The legislation lacked clarity, according to analysts.

Subbotin said the text of the law described all the requirements in sufficient detail and that companies had been given enough time.