Russia fines Telegram and Viber over Ukraine war content

Interfax said Dubai-based Telegram was ordered to pay a fine of 4 million rubles ($47,525). The Japanese company behind Viber was also fined 1 million rubles.

Telegram was founded by Russian-born brothers Pavel and Nikolai Durov in 2013. TASS news agency said Telegram was fined for refusing to remove 32 channels that posted disinformation about the special military operation in Ukraine.

Russia has previously imposed fines on a range of online content providers including Google, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.

TASS news agency further reported that a Moscow court is considering a lawsuit against Apple, also over allegations of failing to remove illegal content.

In another case, the Wikimedia Foundation, the group behind the open encyclopedia Wikipedia, was also fined 1.5 million rubles on Tuesday, the Tagansky court in Moscow said.

Hoang Ton (according to TASS, Interfax, Reuters)