The Russian communications watchdog Roskomnadzor might raise the issue of blocking Facebook if the social network fails to locate the Russian citizens' database on the country's territory and comply with the Russian laws before the end of 2018, the head of Roskomnadzor said in an interview with the Izvestia newspaper.

"We will check the company before the end of 2018, and there are several points that should be implemented, these are location of Russian citizens' database on the territory of Russia, removal of all unlawful content… and compliance with other laws. If the company fails to do anything or at least something of these, or the Russian government receives no notification of intentions to do these, we will obviously raise the issue of blocking," Roskomnadzor head Alexander Zharov told the newspaper.

In February, Zharov held a meeting with Facebook representatives in Moscow to discuss the company’s compliance with norms and requirements of the Russian legislation. He notified the company about a comprehensive inspection in the second half of 2018.

Until September 1, 2015, foreign companies operating on the Russian market or with Russian customers had been allowed to freely collect and process users' personal data. The amendments to the law on personal data protection effective since that time obliged them to localize the data of Russian users on the territory of Russia. The legislation empowers Roskomnadzor to ban companies in case of the failure to be in line with the legal norms.

Icmal.Az