Russian Court fines Google more than $370 million for not deleting banned content

A Russian court has imposed a fine of 21 billion rubles on Google for refusing to delete content which has been prohibited in the nation. The fine levied on Google is around 10% of Google's revenue in Russia, Sputnik reported. A judge in a Russian court ruled that Google is "guilty of an administrative offensive" and imposed a fine of 21,770,392,317 rubles (Rs 30,45,59,13,804.94).

The court's ruling comes after the content which Russia has claimed to have "extremist materials, propaganda from banned terror groups, instructions for creating explosive devices and fake information" was posted on YouTube. Russian information watchdog Roskomnadzor has said that at least 7000 "illegal posts" are yet to be removed. Google and Russian authorities have had differences in the past few months over the deletion and restriction placed on multiple channels on YouTube. Google has even prohibited state-funded Russian media from earning money through advertisements.

Court imposes a fine of Rs 97,91,650.17 on Google

A court in Moscow ordered Google to pay an 11 million rubles fine over information shared on Russia's offensive on YouTube, RFERL reported The judge in the magistrate court of the Taganka district in Moscow ruled that Google needs to pay a 4 million ruble ($50,000) fine for not removing the content which has been prohibited in Russia, RFERL reported. In a separate case, a Moscow magistrate court announced a turnover-based fine on Google which amounted to 7 million rubles (Rs 97,91,650.17) for disseminating content created by "Azov military group and the Ukrainian far-right group Right Sector." The judgement came after media regulator Roskomnadzor accused Google of violating Russian law for "spreading fake news" on YouTube about Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. Earlier, the Russian subsidiary of Google filed for bankruptcy concerning the non-fulfilment of monetary obligations, Sputnik reported citing the Fedresurs federal registry of subjects of economic activity.

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