The pro-Kremlin channel Mash has been fined over a post claiming that Roskomnadzor is interfering with the work of car dealers.

The Tagansky District Court of Moscow has fined the legal entity behind the pro-Kremlin Telegram channel Mash and its general director, Nadezhda Klimenko, a total of 260,000 roubles (approximately US$2,900). Mediazona reports this was over a post about the work of car dealers in Russia.

The fines were issued under charges of disseminating deliberately false information presented as reliable (Part 9, Article 13.15 of the Administrative Code). According to court documents, on 25 March the channel posted about the Chinese car brands LiXiang and Zeekr. The post claimed that, due to the personal data law, Roskomnadzor was preventing the cars from entering the Russian market.

“One of the main problems is that the issue with Roskomnadzor needs to be sorted out. Namely: ensuring the safe storage of Russians’ personal data within the Russian Federation. Basically, they want a 100 per cent guarantee that there won’t be any leaks. Plus, you have to sign off on responsibility for managing the database. All of this is a very resource-intensive process,” the Mash article stated. The publication has since been deleted.

Later, an update was added saying that Roskomnadzor, under Russian law, does not actually issue permission to handle personal data in the country.

“Many companies provide such a service. There are no problems obtaining it, Roskomnadzor said,” the end of the article noted.

The day after the post was published, on 26 March, Vadim Subbotin, deputy head of Roskomnadzor, demanded an investigation.

In court, a Mash representative argued that “there was nothing offensive” in the post except for the word “sort out,” according to Mediazona.