Russia is reportedly going to force Twitter to store Russian data inside the country
On September 1, a new data law came into effect in Russia, requiring technology companies to store citizens' data on servers located in Russia.
According to Radio Free Europe, Roskomnadzor - Russia's data regulator - had previously said the law would not affect Twitter because it did not collect relevant data.
But it has now changed its position.
Although the data law is technically already in effect, there is a grace period until the end of the year for companies to comply. After all, compliance requires building (or leasing) new data centres and significant restructuring of how data is handled internally - an onerous requirement for big tech companies with hundreds of millions of users.
Announcing that Twitter was subject to the law, Roskomnadzor boss Alexander Zharov said that his regulator will "wait patiently" for news of compliance, according to The Financial Times, but said that additional scrutiny will be leveled next year. Facebook is also subject to the new law.
If companies do not comply, they may be fined - or even blocked from operating in Russia altogether. Twitter declined to comment on this story.
Some critics believe the law is intended as leverage to make tech companies talk to the Russian government more. Right now, only Google has an office in Moscow.
"The law is not meant to be taken literally," investigative journalist Andrei Soldatov told The Guardian in September 2015. "The idea is to have a pretext to force these big global companies to talk to the Kremlin. It could also force them to open offices here, which would make them more amenable to pressure from authorities."