Google has just been fined 14 million rubles (€162,105) in Russia. The Moscow court behind the decision accuses the American giant of not having removed content deemed illegal, in particular hosted on YouTube.
Remember, we learned in May 2021 that Russia is demanding that Google remove content banned by Russian authorities from these various platforms like YouTube. The American giant risked a fine in this case, as well asa slowdown in search engine traffic.
Roskomnadzor, the Russian communications oversight service, criticizes Google for having censored youtube channels belonging to Russian-funded media such as RT or Sputnik. In addition, Russian authorities demanded removing thousands of drug-related videos, violence or even management of the Covid-19 pandemic in the country.
Also read: Google – a 7 million euro bill in Russia for abuse of dominant position
Russia continues its war against Google
However, according to the Russian website Tass, the Moscow district court has just sentenced Google to a 14 million rubles fine, ie 162,105 euros, in the context of five trials for refuse to delete information and content considered illegal in Russia. “Google was found guilty of five administrative infractions. The company was sentenced to an administrative fine of 14 million rubles in five cases ” assures the rapporteur of the decision.
The Russian communications oversight service previously reported that YouTube, owned by Google LLC, failed to remove about 5,000 videos related to prohibited topics. At the end of July 2021, Google was also fined €34,500 by Russian courts for not storing Russian user data on national territory. In total, Google has been targeted by 11 Russian minutes since early 2021 for not removing illegal content.
In the end, the total amount of fines imposed on Google amounts to 26.5 million rubles, or about 306,867 euros. As a reminder, these various tests are part of Russia’s general policy of mistrust of all American tech giants. Furthermore, Russia is actively working to insulate itself from the global internet network. The country has already carried out several conclusive tests to isolate the territory from international servers.
Source: Tass
