According to the Russian government, Google has violated Russian laws with its video platform YouTube.
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Russia asks YouTube to delete several videos.
© YouTube
As the Reuters news agency reports , Russia this week fined Google 21.1 billion rubles (equivalent to 370 million euros). The Russian communications supervisory authority Roskomnadzor accuses the US group of not having deleted several videos that violate the laws in force in Russia. Google simply ignored corresponding instructions from the Russian government. According to the Russian government, the videos concerned are clips that contain false information about the war in Ukraine and “promote extremism and terrorism”.
Google isn’t responding
Roskomnadzor had already asked Google to delete the videos in March and threatened the company with a fine of eight million rubles (around 140,000 euros) if the request was not met. According to Russia, the fine of 21.1 billion rubles reflects 20 percent of Google’s annual sales in Russia. However, it remains unclear whether Google will pay the fine. So far, the group has not responded to Russia’s demands.
Russian subsidiary is bankrupt
In May, Google announced that it wanted to close its Russian branch. At the time, the Russian authorities confiscated the group’s assets in the country. The Russian Google subsidiary filed for bankruptcy in June. In response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Google, like many other IT companies, banned Russian users from its services. Furthermore, the sale of advertisements was paused and access to YouTube channels was blocked by the Russian state media.
