Russia's telecoms watchdog said Wednesday that Twitter[1] had agreed to store the personal data of Russian nationals on servers located in Russia by mid-2018 to avoid the prospect of a ban.
The statement from Roskomnadzor came after pro-government newspaper Izvestia earlier Wednesday reported that Twitter had agreed to comply with Russian legislation and was now looking for sites for its servers in Russia.
"On April 13, 2017 Roskomnadzor received a letter from Twitter confirming its readiness to locate servers in Russia by the middle of 2018," the telecoms watchdog said in a statement sent to AFP.
The watchdog had received the letter following a meeting between Twitter representatives and Roskomnadzor officials in March, it said, adding it was monitoring the implementation of the agreement.
There was no official comment from Twitter but a source close to the matter told AFP that Twitter had only agreed to "review" the law.
Twitter is "only reviewing users with 'commercial relationships' - that is, advertisers only and no decision has been made," the source said.
The company wants to ensure that the storage of data in separate locations (outside the United States) "does not create a security risk or any vulnerability for Russian users and their accounts," the source added.
A 2014 law requiring foreign messaging services, search engines and social networking sites to store the personal data of Russian users inside the country has caused widespread concern as it was seen as putting the information at risk of being accessed by Russian intelligence services.
Twitter and Facebook are widely used by the opposition to President Vladimir Putin to coordinate protests and make political statements.
Russia is gearing up for a presidential election in March.
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