Russia Targets Tinder as a Warning to Facebook and Twitter

Last week, the Russian communications censor Roskomnadzor added the popular dating site to a list of 175 companies that it says have agreed to store user data and messages in Russia and to share that data with Russian government and intelligence agencies.Apple is not on the list, but reportedly already stores some of its data in the country. Natalia Krapiva, legal counsel at digital rights group Access Now, says the Russian government chose Tinder to send a message: “This is a way to show bigger companies to comply.”In April, Russia fined Facebook and Twitter 3,000 rubles each (a whopping $46) after they refused requests to store data on Russian servers. “However, this registration in no way shares any user or personal data with any Russian regulatory bodies and we have not handed over any data to their government.”The Tinder agreement is related to a 2015 law that requires “organizers of information,” such as social media platforms, to store user data in servers within Russia. If Russia can claim it has access to Tinder user data, then Spaulding says any allegedly compromising conversations or information the government reveals from the site “doesn’t even have to be true.”Spaulding and O’Brien also point out that making the public aware that Russia has access to Tinder’s data makes it easier for the Russian government to create fake scandals using faked data.