August 18, 2021
A Russian court on Tuesday fined Alphabet Inc’s Google 14 million roubles ($190,398) for violating Russian rules on banned content, another example of a wider standoff between Russia and big tech companies.
Russia has routinely fined large technology companies for failing to remove prohibited content and has tried to order foreign technology companies to open offices on Russian soil.
The Tagansky District Court in Moscow stated that Google has been fined five administrative penalties totaling 4 million roubles, 1.5 million roubles, 5 million roubles, 1.5 million roubles and 2 million roubles.
Google confirmed the first two fines but declined to comment further.
Russia has recently fined Google a number of small fines, ranging from not deleting content that Moscow considers illegal to localizing user data.
Google is also the subject of a Russian court order requiring it to release the YouTube account of Tsargrad TV, Konstantin Malofeev’s Christian Orthodox channel, which is now subject to U.S. and EU financial sanctions.
An appeal hearing is scheduled for Sept. 20. Tsargrad TV said on Monday that it had broken off talks with Google, the parent company of YouTube, and claimed that the U.S. company was withdrawing from the talks.
For more information, read the original story in Reuters.
