Russia's media regulator, Roskomnadzor, says it has decided to "apply coercive measures" against several foreign IT companies, including TikTok, Telegram, Zoom, Discord, and Pinterest, for violating Russian law.
"The above IT companies do not comply with the procedure for deleting prohibited information and the main obligations established by federal law," Roskomnadzor said in a statement on its website on August 19.
The statement said the measures would remain in place until the companies comply with the rules and the law.
In recent months, Russian courts have fined Google, Facebook, Twitter, Twitch, WhatsApp, Telegram and TikTok over the personal-data issue, as well as for refusing to delete content deemed to be banned by Russian law.
President Vladimir Putin has accused social-media platforms and other foreign-based tech companies of flouting the country's Internet laws. He has been pushing ways to force foreign firms to open offices in Russia and to store data locally.
Many critics have accused the Russian authorities of trying to quell dissent by imposing stricter regulations on Internet companies.
