Russia Fines Google for Not Deleting Banned Content from Search, YouTube
Google was fined $40,155 on Monday for failing to delete content deemed illegal by a Moscow court, as part of a larger dispute between Russia and the Alphabet-owned US tech giant.
In October, Russia threatened to fine Google a percentage of its annual Russian turnover for repeatedly failing to remove banned content from its search engine and YouTube, in the strongest move yet by Moscow to rein in foreign tech firms.
Google, which announced last month that it had paid more than $428,480 in fines, did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
This year, Russia imposed a number of minor fines on US technology companies. Roskomnadzor, the state communications regulator, has slowed Twitter’s speed since March and has told Reuters that it will not lift the restrictions on mobile devices until all illegal content is removed.
Last week, Italy’s antitrust regulator fined Apple and Google EUR 20 million , the second time the regulator has sanctioned US tech titans this week.
In recent years, European countries have cracked down on Big Tech’s business practices, and the EU is moving forward with legislation to tighten regulation.
The Italian competition authority fined Apple and Google EUR 10 million each for violations of the consumer code, including failing to provide adequate information to customers and using “aggressive methods” in the commercial use of their data.
