Russia's Roskomnadzor communications watchdog reported today that it had sent a request to the Internet Providers regarding the block of social media website LinkedIn to comply with a court ruling that found the firm guilty of violating data laws.
The watchdog said that it was fulfilling a decision by a Russian court aimed at protecting the personal data of Russian internet users.
According to NDTV, Russian Law requires websites which store the personal data of citizens to do so on the Russian servers, something that LinkedIn failed to do.
LinkedIn, headquartered in the US, has approx more than 6 million registered users in Russia. It is the first major social networking website to be blocked by the Russian authorities, setting a precedent for the way foreign Internet firms operate.
The site will be unavailable to the Russian citizens within a day, Roskomnadzor spokesman Vadim Ampelonsky stated. One Internet Service Provider, Rostelcom, was quick to say it had already blocked access to the website. Two others, MTS and Vimpelcom, said they would do so within 24 hours.
The Kremlin said that the decision was legal and that President Vladimir Putin did not plan to interfere in the case.
When asked whether the move might stir fears of online censorship, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said there were "no such concerns."
LinkedIn was starting to hear from members in Russia saying they were no longer able to access the site, a company spokeswoman said.
"Roskomnadzor's action to block LinkedIn denies access to the millions of members we have in Russia and the companies that use LinkedIn to grow their businesses," the spokeswoman said.
According to Reuters CA, Roskomnadzor's Ampelonsky told the watchdog had received a letter from LinkedIn's US management on Friday requesting a meeting regarding this.
He said he expected the meeting to take place within the next two weeks, but that Roskomnadzor had first to get approval for the meeting from the foreign ministry and the security services because LinkedIn was a foreign company.
LinkedIn spokeswoman although stated they are pretty much interested to go on with the meeting and clear the issues.
