Russia penalized TikTok for not removing content promoting LGBT and other Western values and Twitch for a video of an interview with a Ukrainian official.
Without providing much information, Interfax reported that a TikTok representative appearing in court had asked that the hearing be adjourned, as per a report from Reuters.
These penalties are the most recent development in Moscow's ongoing fight with Big Tech, which has included previous fines related to the content, restrictions for data storage, and even outright bans.
The Tagansky District Court in Moscow ordered a fine of 3 million roubles ($51,000) on ByteDance, the Beijing-based IT company that owns the popular video-sharing app TikTok.
According to news outlets, the action against TikTok stems from claims that the firm "promotes" non-traditional values, LGBT, feminism," and a twisted depiction of conventional "sexual values" on its site.
Twitch Also Slapped with Fine
Mint reported that another Russian court fined Twitch 4 million roubles ($68,000) on Tuesday for failure to delete a conversation with a Ukrainian political leader.
It was reported that the interview broke Russian legislation against the dissemination of false information.
As of present reporting, Amazon's Twitch has not provided any comment on the matter.
Russia launched tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in early March, and shortly approved a law that makes it a crime to "discredit" the military, carrying a maximum term of 15 years in prison. All foreign tech companies have been advised not to break the law.
Russian news agency TASS claimed Tuesday that Twitch could be hit with fines totaling up to 8 million roubles for failing to remove what Russia views as false news on the progress of its "special military operation" in Ukraine.
Russia Looks To Expand Gay Propaganda Law
Russia may broaden its 2013 "gay propaganda" law, which prohibits encouraging homosexuality in children. Lawmakers have proposed increasing sanctions for exposing youngsters to "LGBT propaganda" and expanding the ban to include grownups, per Channel News Asia.
Human rights activists allege the law has been extensively enforced to scare Russia's LGBT community. Russian authorities say they are defending morals against un-Russian liberal notions propagated by the West.
Any assembly or activity seen as an attempt to encourage homosexuality would be subject to a fine under the new rules.
In July, the head of parliament, Vyacheslav Volodin, stated that Russia could now outlaw the dissemination of "non-traditional values" since it had withdrawn from the Council of Europe, a human rights watchdog, after sending soldiers into Ukraine.
"In Russia, calls to legalize same-sex marriages belong to the past," he declared, adding that attempts to impose alien values on Russian culture have failed, per Reuters.
The social conservatism of the Orthodox Church, which prohibits same-sex unions, has become an integral component of President Putin's narrative of a Russian political and cultural resurgence, which is now being used to justify the invasion of Ukraine.
The new constitution that extends presidential term limits in 2020 also establishes the exclusive union of a man and a woman as marriage.
In Russia, being gay was considered a mental disease until 1999 and a criminal offense until 1993.
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