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MOSCOW: A Moscow court has said it was imposing a fine on Alphabet’s Google $98m for what it said was a repeated failure to delete content Russia deems illegal, the first revenue-based penalty of its kind in Russia.
Moscow has increased pressure on Big Tech this year in a campaign that critics characterise as an attempt by the Russian authorities to exert tighter control over the internet, something they say threatens individual and corporate freedom.
Hours after the Google verdict was announced, a 2bn rouble fine was handed to Meta, the parent company of Facebook, for similar content-related offences.
Earlier this week, Twitter was also handed a 3m rouble fine for similar charges.
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This is not Google’s first brush with Russian authorities over content laws. In May, Russia’s media watchdog threatened to slow down the speed of Google if it failed to delete 26,000 instances of unlawful content, which it said related to drugs, violence and extremism.
President Vladimir Putin has pushed for development of a so-called sovereign internet, which would give the government more control over what its citizens can access.
