Google and Facebook. Russian court penalty for not removing illegal content
The Moscow District Court ruled that Google repeatedly neglected to remove prohibited content and ordered the company to pay an administrative fine of approximately 7.2 billion rubles (about $98.4 million). Facebook’s parent company Meta has also been fined $27 million for failing to remove content prohibited under local law as Russia tries to increase pressure on the tech giants.
Google responded by email that it would analyze the court’s ruling before making a decision on next steps.
tech giants sanctions
There have already been minor fines in Russia this year against foreign tech companies, but Friday’s fine is the first time the fine has represented a percentage of the company’s annual sales in Russia, significantly increasing the total. According to Reuters calculations, this percentage in the case of Google was 8 percent. Revenues.
The Russians are increasing pressure on tech companies as part of a campaign critics describe as an attempt by authorities to tighten censorship of online content.
Russian communications organization Roskomnadzor said clear accusations of Google and Meta of violating the ban on broadcasting content that promotes extremist ideology, offends religious beliefs, and encourages dangerous behavior by minors.
The agency said Facebook and Instagram failed to remove 2,000 such items despite court summons, and Google failed to remove 2,600 such items.
Russia demanded the opening of representative offices on its territory
Russia has ordered the companies to remove posts promoting drug addiction and dangerous entertainment, information about homemade weapons and explosives, and content about groups it considers extremist or terrorist. Google, which has paid more than 32 million rubles in fines for content violations this year, is still at odds with Moscow over a number of issues.
Moscow has required 13 foreign entities, mainly US technology companies, including Google and Meta (the owner of Facebook), to open representative offices in Russia by January 1, 2022, under the threat of possible restrictions or a complete ban.
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