Russia fines Google $370 million for repeated content violations

MOSCOW, Jul.18, (ST)- Alphabet’s (GOOGL.O) Google was fined 21.1 billion rubles ($373 million) on Monday by a Moscow court for a repeated failure to remove content Russia deems illegal, such as fake news about the conflict in Ukraine, Russia’s communications regulator said.

The regulator, Roskomnadzor, said the Tagansky District Court had fined Google 21.1 billion rubles for repeatedly failing to restrict access promptly to banned materials, and singled out YouTube for particular criticism.

It said YouTube had not deleted “fakes about the course of the special military operation in Ukraine, discrediting the armed forces of the Russian Federation”.

It also said YouTube was permitting content promoting extremist views and calls for children to participate in unauthorised protests.

The fine was calculated as a share of Google’s annual turnover in Russia. It had been handed a similar 7.2 billion ruble penalty late last year

Source: Agencies