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Good morning. David Meyer here in Berlin, filling in for Alan.
Twitter has been annoying the Kremlin recently by labeling or blocking accounts that spread Russian propaganda. Now, the Russian government might exact some revenge.
This morning the Russian media regulator, Roskomnadzor, announced Twitter has been “maliciously” breaking the law by failing to remove nearly 3,000 illegal posts. The posts apparently contain information that is prohibited in Russia: according to the watchdog, 2,336 discuss suicide, 352 include child sexual abuse material, and 174 discuss drugs.
Roskomnadzor said Twitter’s violations date back to 2017, adding that the company could be in line for a fine of 800,000 rubles ($10,800) to 8 million rubles. That’s obviously not a lot of money for a firm of Twitter’s size, but, as the regulator also noted, a “second offense” could see the fine increased to a fifth of Twitter’s total annual revenues.
Twitter declined to comment on Roskomnadzor’s announcement. At the time of publication, Roskomnadzor had also not clarified whether it would imminently move to the fining stage, and whether Twitter’s alleged transgressions over the last few years would collectively count as a first offense or something weightier.
There is of course nothing new about the Putin regime’s keenness on censoring the Russian internet—particularly when facing opposition protests, as is the case now—nor about its antagonism towards Western platforms over their unwillingness to aid that effort.
However, this episode does come at a time when Western governments are also more closely examining the question of regulating online speech—and it handily demonstrates how different countries’ norms can clash, leaving platforms caught in the middle.
There are certain types of content that pretty much every country agrees is worth filtering out, ranging from the plainly abhorrent (child sexual exploitation) to the economically undesirable (copyright infringement). But there’s little agreement between Moscow and Brussels regarding the discussion of drugs, for example—and Brussels and Washington don’t see eye-to-eye on the issue of hate speech, either.
A platform like Twitter has for years had to balance the increasingly draconian demands of some countries with its own free-speech principles, as well as those embedded in the laws back home. Soon, it may face an even more fragmented regulatory landscape that demands it makes complex, sometimes conflicting decisions in different markets.
Such things are perhaps to be expected as the Internet matures, but I certainly don’t envy Twitter or its rivals the task of pleasing all those masters. More news below.
David Meyer
@superglaze
david.meyer@fortune.com
TOP NEWS
J&J approval
The FDA has approved J&J's vaccine, meaning there are now three COVID-19 vaccines available in the U.S. (The Pacific Research Institute's Sally C. Pipes believes there should be four; in this Fortune piece she calls for Oxford/AstraZeneca's approval.) The J&J jab has a relatively low efficacy rate, but Anthony Fauci says Americans should take whatever they can get, when they can get it. Fortune
Walmart fintech
Walmart, keen to muscle into the banking business, has reportedly poached two Goldman Sachs bankers to help run its new financial technology startup (a tie-up with Ribbit Capital that remains light on details for now.) Fortune
"Era of pandemics"
Why not start your week with optimism: The world is entering "an era of pandemics," according to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who recently moved to copy the U.S.'s biodefense preparedness mechanisms. "Europe has to build up to be prepared for whatever comes, and also for the next possible pandemics," she said. Financial Times
Trump return?
As anticipated, former President Donald Trump is dangling the prospect of another presidential run as a Republican in 2024. In his first big speech since leaving office, he told the Conservative Political Action Conference yesterday that he may run again ("Who knows?") but he had no plans to form a third party. Fortune
AROUND THE WATER COOLER
Variants
Might the U.S. escape the full wrath of the coronavirus variants (U.K. South Africa, Brazil) that are spreading around the globe? Some experts think so, because of seasonal factors and progress on the vaccination front. Meanwhile, South Africa's lockdown has been reduced to its lowest level, due to continued evidence of the country emerging from its second wave of COVID-19 infections (which, naturally, have been dominated by the South African variant.) Fortune
Nord Stream 2
Munich Security Conference chief Wolfgang Ischinger has an interesting proposal for how Germany can manage the Nord Stream 2 Russian-gas-pipeline debacle: allow the nearly-completed project to be completed, but then refuse to open the tap until Russia cuts out all that hacking, disinformation, attempted assassination of dissidents, fomenting political crises in Eastern European countries, etc, etc. Der Spiegel (English)
Post-COVID economy
Harvard Business School senior fellow Bill George has some advice for business leaders who want to win in the post-COVID marketplace: understand the new normal, create a vision, reshape your industry, make vital investments, bring your team together, and more. Fortune
Pipeline pushback
AT&T Business CEO Anne Chow has no time for those who claim diverse hiring is difficult because of pipeline problems. "Clearly, diverse talent is out there," she writes in a piece for Fortune. "But to capture that talent, organizations need to step back and look at their processes, including where they go to begin the talent search. They must also assess how they develop talent across their organizations if they want to identify where the actual so-called pipeline problems lie." Fortune
This edition of CEO Daily was edited by David Meyer.
