The US-based IT-giant failed to delete information prohibited in Russia for a second time, court finds
Russia’s court has fined American tech giant Google more than 21 billion rubles ($366 million) on Monday, for its failure to delete prohibited information on the conflict in Ukraine, RIA Novosti has reported from the court.
Moscow’s Tagansky District Court has slapped a turnover-based fine on the IT-company for its repeated refusal to delete information prohibited by Russian law. Roskomnadzor, the national internet and media watchdog, had previously required the company to remove from YouTube all “misleading information” regarding Russia’s military offensive in Ukraine.
Prior to the court’s ruling, Roskomnadzor had sent Google 17 notifications requiring it to abide by Russian law, but the tech giant failed to comply. The total fine is equal to one tenth of the company and its affiliated structures’ annual turnover in Russia.
Russia has long been critical of the way foreign platforms distribute online content that violates national laws. Last December, the Silicon Valley firm was hit with a fine of 7.2 billion rubles (around $98.1 million) for failing to take down banned content, which was the first time that an IT company had been fined in Russia with a penalty linked to its earnings.
In late June, Roskomnadzor completed a report regarding what it said was Google’s repeated failure to remove prohibited items, saying the company had not deleted at least 7,000 “illegal materials” from Youtube.
At the time, the watchdog accused the IT giant of promoting false information on the Ukraine conflict, and hosting material that supports extremism and encourages children to participate in unauthorized mass protests.
RT (Russia Today) is a state-owned news organization funded by the Russian government. The information provided by this news source is being included by the Libertarian Hub not as an endorsement of the Russian government, but rather because it is being actively censored by Big Tech, Western governments and the corporate press. During times of conflict it is imperative that we have access to both sides of the story so we can form our own opinions, even if both sides are spewing their own propaganda. The censorship of RT, despite likely being a propaganda outfit for the Russian government, reduces our ability to hear one side of the conflict. For that reason, the Libertarian Hub will temporarily republish the RSS feed from RT. Visit https://rt.com
