Russia asks Facebook to comply with personal data policy

September 29, 2017 On Tuesday, Russian government internet watchdog "insisted" US-based social networking website Facebook comply with law #242 on personal data of users in order to continue operating in the country. Per law #242, user data of Russian citizens should be hosted on local servers &mdash; the rule which business-oriented networking site did not agree to, for which LinkedIn was eventually blocked in the country.

Roskomnadzor's head,, said,. , the communication minister, in remarks to said Facebook would be blocked by the authorities in the country if they did not comply with the rules. On Tuesday, Russian president Vladmir Putin's press secretary said, "this is a business company that is making money and that must do this in accordance with the laws of the Russian Federation. There are laws that must be observed".

However, the watchdog said Facebook would not be blocked until next year. Zharov said,

Law #242 came into effect on September 1, 2015. Russian websites like, , , , and had already fulfilled this requirement. In April, Twitter announced moving personal data to Russian servers by mid-2018.

Facebook estimated it had some six million daily users from Russia last year, and more than fourteen million monthly users. Considering these statistics, and other companies already complying with the law, Zharov said,.

Within the preceding week, Facebook, Inc.'s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, announced the company's intention to reveal information about Russian companies who bought commercials on the platform, which are speculated to have interfered with and affected last year's presidential election in the US.