MOSCOW, July 18, 2018 (Reuters) – a Moscow court fined Alphabet’s Google (GOOGL.O) Monday for failing to remove content Russia considers illegal. This included fake news about the conflict in Ukraine.
Moscow has consistently opposed foreign tech platforms’ distributions of content that violates its restrictions. The simmering dispute turned into a full-on war after Moscow assembled its armed forces and sent them into Ukraine in February.
YouTube, Alphabet, has been a target of the state’s anger, but unlike Twitter and Meta Platforms (META.O), it has not been blocked.
Roskomnadzor, the regulator, said that the Tagansky District Court had fined Google 21.1 billion rubles for failing to block access to banned materials. He also singled out YouTube as a target for criticism.
YouTube claimed it had not deleted “fakes concerning the course of the special army operation in Ukraine, discrediting armed forces from the Russian Federation”.
YouTube also stated that it allowed content that promoted extremist views and called for children to take part in unauthorized protests.
MOSCOW, July 18, 2018 (Reuters) – a Moscow court fined Alphabet’s Google (GOOGL.O) Monday for failing to remove content Russia considers illegal. This included fake news about the conflict in Ukraine.
Moscow has consistently opposed foreign tech platforms’ distributions of content that violates its restrictions. The simmering dispute turned into a full-blown battle after Moscow assembled its armed forces and sent them into Ukraine in February.
Roskomnadzor, the regulator, said that the Tagansky District Court had fined Google 21.1 billion rubles for failing to block access to banned materials. He also singled out YouTube as a target for criticism.
YouTube claimed it had not deleted “fakes concerning the course of the special army operation in Ukraine, discrediting armed forces from the Russian Federation”.
YouTube also stated that it allowed content that promoted extremist views and called for children to take part in unauthorized protests.
Appealing Google didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The fine was equal to a percentage of Google’s Russian annual turnover. The same 7.2 billion rouble penalty was handed to the company late last year.
The company seized Google’s Russian subsidiary’s bank account, prompting it to file for bankruptcy. This made it impossible to pay vendors and staff.
Russia claims it is conducting a special military operation in Ukraine to neutralize a threat to its security and to protect Russian speakers against persecution.
Ukraine and its Western allies dismiss these allegations as baseless pretexts for an illegal land grab.
Anton Gorelkin (Deputy Head of the Parliamentary Committee on Information Policy) stated that Google clearly disregards Russian law.
Telegram user said, “It’s not difficult to predict what this attitude would lead to Google risks losing Russia altogether.” ($1 = 56.4650 roubles)
Reporting by Reuters, Editing by Newslikin
