'Unfriended': Russia Says They'll Block Facebook If It Doesn't Store Citizens' Data In-Country

ola olugbemi | September 27, 2017
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On Tuesday, Russian Federation-sponsored media watchdog Roskomnadzor threatened to block Facebook from all business dealings within the country by 2018 if it does not comply with laws to store the personal data of Russian citizens on Russian servers in the country.

A CNN Tech article quoted Alexander Zharov, head of communications at Roskomnadzor, saying, “In all cases we will make sure the law is complied with, or the company will stop working in the Russian Federation…. There are no exceptions here." Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also stated that Facebook must comply with local laws to store data in the country because it makes money as a commercial enterprise in Russia.

The Russian media watchdog delivered this news a few days after Facebook Chairman Mark Zuckerberg broadcasted a video message on his company’s website stating that Facebook is working with Congress to provide the data of suspected Russian linked election ads to Congress.

Watch the video from Time here:

Roskomnadzor already blocked the Microsoft owned company LinkedIn in November of last year for failing to comply with the same laws. Twitter has since stated that the company will ensure that the Russian Federation has access to its data by the middle of 2018.

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