May 25, 2021

Roskomnadzor, the Russian federal agency responsible for compliance with the law in media and telecommunications, recently issued Google with a 24-hour ultimatum to remove prohibited content.

Information such as videos containing information on drugs, violence, and materials from so-called extremist organizations.

While Roskomnadzor pointed out that it had sent more than 26,000 calls to the tech giant to remove the illegal content, it stated that Google risked a fine of between 800,000 and 4 million roubles ($10,800- $54,000) and also a slowdown in the company’s traffic in Russia if Google decided not to restrict access to the banned information.

Roskomnadzor also accused Google of censorship for allegedly restricting access to YouTube media such as RT and Sputnik.

The agency said: “This censorship of Russian media and the targeted support for illegal protest activity actually speak to the political colouring of Google’s activities in Russia.”

For more information, read the original story in Reuters.