MOSCOW, November 24 (RAPSI) – The Presnensky District Court of Moscow on Tuesday dismissed a Twitter’s lawsuit challenging institution of enforcement proceedings in a case over the 4 million-ruble (over $50,000 at the current exchange rate) fine imposed on the company for refusal to place its servers in Russia, the court’s spokesperson Lela Kokaya told RAPSI.

Last week, another Moscow court rejected a similar plea against Chief Executive Bailiff Maxim Dumakov. The administrative plaintiffs claimed the Federal Bailiff Service had no competence to initiate enforcement proceedings against a legal entity not registered and not operating in Russia.

In mid-February, a magistrate court in Moscow fined Twitter and Facebook 4 million rubles each for breaching of user data storage requirements. 

Earlier, in late January, Russian communications watchdog Roskomnadzor instituted administrative proceedings against Facebook and Twitter.

The proceedings were commenced as the companies failed to provide in time information on fulfilment of requirements on the localization of databases of Russian social media users on servers located in Russia, as stipulated by the Law On Personal Data.