Facebook delegation arrived in Russia to hold a secret meeting with the leaders of Roskomnadzor, as the newspaper "Izvestia" reports. Social network was represented by Director of Public Policy of Facebook in Scandinavia, Central and Eastern Europe and Russia - Mirup Christensen. According to sources, the theme of the meeting was the regulations on the Internet in Russia.
Facebook representatives asked to keep the information about this visit a secret. The source notes that the company is interested in the new Russian law on the storage of users' personal data.
Press office of the social network refused to give any comments, as well as representatives of Roskomnadzor. "The regulation of the Internet is one of the most urgent topics now. They wanted to learn from Roskomnadzor what penalties they may face due to adoption of a new law on bloggers [included in the package of anti-terrorism amendments] and the Law on Personal Data" - said the Director for Cooperation with State authorities of Rambler & Co - Matvey Alekseev.
At the end of June Vice President of Twitter Colin Crowell came to Russia for talks with representatives of government agencies and major Internet companie. Here he had to "decide whether to register the Russian representative and obey local laws, or continue their current policy."
After the Crowell’s visit the head of Roskomnadzor Alexander Zharov said about the agreement on which Twitter will block access for Russian users to the accounts of about 10 organizations recognized in Russia as extremist (for example, an account of the "right sector").
On August 1, "antiblog" law will come into force in Russia that would force major internet services store user information within six months and equate popular bloggers (from 3 thousand readers a day) to the media.
In addition, on July 4, the State Duma adopted a law on the storage of personal data of Russian Internet users on servers located in the territory of Russia. The new rule includes all sites that handle personal information such as social networks, postal services, services for the sale of airline tickets. Violators will be in a special register. If the site where the violation was detected, does not respond to prescription of Roskomnadzor, it will be blocked.
Airlines and tour operators fear that the law would deprive the Russians the possibility of using a number of global online services, such as airline tickets and hotels booking.
Author: Anna Dorozhkina