Russian lawmakers vote to force U.S. tech giants to open local offices

Photo caption: Pavel Krasheninnikov and other members of Russia’s lower house of parliament… in Moscow, Russia March 10, 2020. Reuters / Evgenia Novozhenina / File Photo. Reporting by Maxim Rodionov, writing by Tom Balmforth and editing by Mark Potter. Reuters – June 17, 2021.

MOSCOW, June 17 (Reuters) – Russian lawmakers passed legislation on Thursday that would oblige U.S. tech giants to open offices in Russia by January 2022 or face punitive measures, part of a push by Russia to beef up what it calls internet “sovereignty”.

Russia has cracked down on U.S. internet companies in recent months and slowed down Twitter’s internet traffic since March to punish it for not deleting what Moscow says is banned content.

The new legislation, which passed its third and final reading in the lower house of parliament, requires foreign sites with more than half a million daily users in Russia to set up a local branch or Russian legal entity. […]

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