Russia Fines Google $358 Million for Failing to Restrict Access Information Recognized As Prohibited

The Russian federal executive agency, Roskomnadzor said that Google was fined for violating the procedure for restricting access to information recognized as prohibited.

The announcement mentions that Youtube which is Google’s subsidiary did not limit access to various materials that include prohibited content within the given time.

The following are the materials that are not removed within the stipulated time:

• News about the course of a special military operation in Ukraine, discrediting the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation;
• Materials promoting extremism and terrorism;
• Materials promoting an indifferent attitude to the life and health of minors;
• Information with appeals, including to minors, to participate in unauthorized mass actions.

Court Imposed a Fine on Google

According to the news published by Roskomnadzor, The World Court of the Tagansky District of Moscow fined Google in the amount of 21,077,392,317.8 rubles, calculated on the basis of the company’s annual Russian turnover, for repeated failure to remove prohibited materials.

Roskomnadzor makes clear that the huge fine of $358 million was in fact calculated on the basis of the company’s annual business turnover in Russia.

Therefore the total amount of fines Google for such offenses exceeds 7.2 billion rubles. In this, 68 million rubles under Part 2 and Part 4 of Art. 13.41 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation and a turnover fine in the amount of 7.22 billion rubles for a repeated offense, says the report.

Furthermore, the users in Russia who use Google search and YouTube will at present notice a caution about the firm failing to restrict access to prohibited information and not allowed to place advertisements or use them as information sources.

“For systematic violations of Russian law against Google, a number of coercive measures are in place: informing Internet users about a violation by a foreign company of Russian law and a ban on distributing advertising of the corporation and its information resources as an object of advertising”, Russian News Regulator Roskomnadzor.

Notably, a similar action was taken last week against Twitch Interactive, the popular streaming platform, for not removing material prohibited by Russian authorities.

Anton Gorelkin, Deputy Head of the Parliamentary Committee on Information Policy, said Google was showing a demonstrative disregard for Russian law. “It is not hard to predict what this attitude will lead to Google risks losing the Russian market altogether,” he wrote on Telegram.

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