Russia fines TikTok, Twitch over so-called ‘gay propaganda’ and ‘fake news’ laws, respectively

Russia appears to be flexing its muscle to show control over big technological companies by issuing fines to two major online platforms.

On Tuesday, Moscow fined video-sharing giant TikTok 3 million roubles (around $51,000), for what Moscow saw as a violation of the country’s so-called “gay propaganda” law — legislation that went into effect in 2013 and is described by Human Rights Watch as a “classic example of political homophobia” that “targets vulnerable sexual and gender minorities for political gain.”

In July, the lower house of the Russian parliament introduced legislation designed to broaden the scope of the current law and also apply it to film, television and internet content.

The fine was announced by a judge in Moscow’s Tagansky District, according to Russian news outlet Interfax.

The case was based on accusations that the Chinese-owned company featured videos “featuring LGBT [issues], feminism and distorted representation of traditional sexual values,” Interfax noted.

Twitch, the Amazon-owned video game live-streaming service, received a penalty of 8 million rubles (around $135,000) for refusing to remove “false data about a special military operation in Ukraine,” according to the state-owned news agency Tass.

The penalties were issued after the service streamed an interview with Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and a video featuring a Ukrainian military expert.

Twitch has already been fined 3 million rubles ($51,000) and 4 million rubles ($68,000), over two previous interviews with Arestovych.

In March, just weeks after Russia launched its devastating and unprovoked assault on Ukraine, the country’s parliament passed an amendment to the criminal code making the spread of what they see as “fake” news a criminal offense.

The law prohibits “discrediting” Russia’s armed forces, and could lead to prison sentences of up to 15 years.

Separately, the host of the online encyclopedia Wikipedia — the Wikimedia Foundation — faces a 4 million rouble fine for refusing to delete “fakes” about the Russian army, Reuters reported, citing the state-owned domestic news agency RIA Novosti.