LNKD Linkedin Corp. Class A

By Olga Razumovskaya 

MOSCOW--Russia's communications regulator is threatening to block professional social network LinkedIn Corp. in Russia if the company loses a court battle for failure to comply with a controversial personal-data law.

The communications regulator, Roskomnadzor, has been taking a tougher stance on foreign companies that aren't complying with a law that mandates them to keep Russians' personal data within the country's borders.

In early August, a lower Russian court sided with Roskomnadzor, saying that LinkedIn didn't comply with Russian law on two counts--by not storing information about Russians on servers inside the country, as well as by processing information about third parties who aren't registered on the site and haven't signed the company's user agreement.

A decision by the appellate court is expected Thursday, but Roskomnadzor head Alexander Zharov said the agency wasn't singling out the U.S.-based firm.

"We are planning to make [the dispute with LinkedIn] an absolutely ordinary case," he said. "Since LinkedIn has ignored our letters when we were inviting them to discuss the issue of personal-data localization, and after a few letters [we] were forced to go to court," he said.

A LinkedIn spokesperson said the company had asked for a meeting with Roskomnadzor to discuss their data-localization request, but declined to comment further on ongoing litigation.

Experts see the case as a crucial test of a new data-privacy law. LinkedIn has become the first foreign company to publicly clash with the regulator over the controversial law that took effect on Sept. 1, 2015 that requires both foreign and local companies to keep Russians' personal data on Russia-based servers.

Since then Roskomnadzor checked 1,500 companies to make sure they obey the data-localization law.

Russia has until now been postponing a showdown with a handful of technology titans, including Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc., over installing data centers on Russian soil, handing an interim victory to companies that have resisted a divisive new rule.

"I'm not going to name the names of the companies since this is to a large extent commercial information but major internet giants are in the process of complying with the law," Mr. Zharov also said, indicating that it may be time for major foreign companies to yield to the regulator's pressure.

"It looks like this is truly a signal for all other companies that Roskomnadzor is quite determined [to make companies comply with the data-localization law], said Evgeny Oreshin, a lawyer for Goltsblat BLP.

Write to Olga Razumovskaya at olga.razumovskaya@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 10, 2016 06:11 ET (11:11 GMT)

Linkedin Corp. Class A (NYSE:LNKD)
Gráfica de Acción Histórica
De Abr 2024 a May 2024

Linkedin Corp. Class A (NYSE:LNKD)
Gráfica de Acción Histórica
De May 2023 a May 2024