Roskomnadzor threatens to send a letter to Facebook

The head of Roskomnadzor, Alexander Zharov, said that in mid-December, he would send letters to Facebook and Twitter asking if the companies comply with the Russian law on storing personal data of Russian users in Russia.

Twitter and Facebook have for several years successfully postponed the fulfillment of the requirements of Russian legislation:

“The second half of the year will expire, I set myself a deadline for December 15, I will write a letter accordingly: tell me, where is this data stored? They will answer me something. I'll do the same for Facebook. That is, I will do it by the end of the year, as I promised, ”said Alexander Zharov.

Zharov stressed that deciding on the blocking of services that do not comply with the requirements of the legislation on the storage of personal data is not his task. Roskomnadzor's letter - this is the beginning of the test, which was previously planned to be held:

“This is the beginning of the test, in fact. We never instrumentally check them, that is, we come and ask the owner of the server capacity if there is an agreement with Twitter. Next is not our work begins. Further, those who are engaged in operational and investigative activities, if they believe that personal data are leaking, are not localized, etc. Therefore, this, in essence, will be the beginning of the inspection, ”said Alexander Zharov.

Exactly a year ago, the head of Roskomnadzor promised that Facebook in 2018 will stop working in the territory of the Russian Federation if it does not fulfill the law on the localization of personal data:

“The law is mandatory for all. In any case, we will either ensure that the law is enforced, or the company will stop working on the territory of the Russian Federation, as unfortunately happened to LinkedIn. There are no exceptions ... We will ensure that the 242nd law of Facebook has been respected. In 2018, everything will be fine ... We are well aware that Facebook has a significant number of users in the Russian Federation, on the other hand, we understand that this is not a unique service, there are other social networks, ”said Zharov.

The law on the localization of personal data obliges IT companies operating in Russia to store and record personal data of Russian users exclusively in the territory of the Russian Federation.