Russian court fines Google over $50 million for spreading ‘prohibited information’
A Russian court fined Google on Wednesday 4.6 billion rubles (approximately $51million) for failing to remove prohibited and fake information, particularly about the conflict in Ukraine, EFE agency reports.
The Tagansky District Court in Moscow levied the fine against Google also for its refusal to take down YouTube videos that disseminated “extremist” content and LGBTQ+ propaganda, which is banned in Russia.
“Google was found guilty of committing administrative offense,” the ruling Judge Marina Orlova said in her verdict.
The court calculated the amount of the fine based on Google’s annual revenue in Russia.
Wednesday’s verdict marked the third such penalty imposed on Google in Russia since 2021.
The company was handed penalties of 7.2 billion rubles in December 2021, and 21 billion rubles in July 2022.
Russia has significantly increased its legal actions against technology companies in recent years, particularly after the war in Ukraine.
Earlier, Russia had imposed sanctions on several social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok.
By now, the country has completely blocked access to social media platform X, formerly twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
