Russia has imposed a fine of 21.1 billion rubles on Google, which is approximately 360 million dollars, for failing to remove YouTube videos that violate the country’s laws.
The Russian communications regulator justified its decision by emphasizing that the video platform did not comply with orders to remove “forbidden content,” which includes videos promoting extremism, terrorism, and alleged false information about Ukraine.
In March, Roskomnadzor, the federal Russian communications watchdog, threatened to punish Google for failing to remove “illegal” videos from YouTube, stating that fines would start from 8 million rubles, with the possibility of increasing up to 20% of Google’s annual revenues.
The charges allege that YouTube failed to remove “lies about the process of the military operation in Ukraine, leading to tarnishing the reputation of the armed forces of the Russian Federation.” The media watchdog also accuses the video platform of allowing content promoting extremist views and encouraging children to participate in unauthorized protests.
The requested amount of 21.1 billion rubles in fines, at the time of the penalty enforcement, is a part of Google’s annual sales volume in the country. However, it is unclear whether Google is in a position to actually pay the fine.
In May, Google announced plans to shut down its operations in Russian territories, claiming that governmental authorities seized its assets in the country, making the idea of keeping the branch operational unfeasible. Officially, the Russian subsidiary of the tech giant filed for bankruptcy last month and so far, no official statements have been issued by Google.
This adds a new chapter to the series of disputes between Russia and Google, which escalated after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
In December of last year, before the current context was revealed, Russia imposed a fine of 100 million dollars on Google for not removing content flagged as inappropriate once again. After the war broke out, Google cut off Russian clients from various services, halted ad sales on Google, demonetized YouTube channels owned by state-backed Russian media, and restricted access to these channels to comply with Western sanctions.
