MOSCOW: A Russian court fined Alphabet’s Google on Wednesday (Dec 20) 4.6 billion roubles (US$50.84 million) for failing to delete so-called “fake” information about the conflict in Ukraine, the TASS news agency reported.
Russia has been at loggerheads with foreign technology companies over content, censorship, data and local representation in a simmering dispute that intensified after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Russia calls the conflict in Ukraine a “special military operation”.
Alphabet’s YouTube has been a particular target of the Russian state’s ire but, unlike Twitter and Meta Platforms’ Facebook and Instagram, it has not been blocked. The fine was calculated as a share of Google’s annual turnover in Russia. The company was handed similar turnover-based penalties of 7.2 billion roubles in late 2021 and 21.1 billion roubles in August 2022.