Google Faces about $ 100 Million Fine in Russia for Failure to Remove Banned Content

A Russian court has been fined Google $ 98 million for failing to remove content deemed illegal in the country. The 7.2 billion rubles fine accounts for about 8 percent of Google's revenue in Russia, Reuters reports, and comes amid a broader push within the country to exert more control over large technology and content companies that people post on their platforms.

Google tells The Verge that it will "study the court documents when they become available and then decide on the next steps." However, a Russian official quoted by Bloomberg threatened to "take very unpleasant action" if Google fails to comply with the country's mandate to remove prohibited content, which includes drug promotion and posts from organizations the government says are extremist or terrorists, including those associated with opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

This is not Google's first fine in Russia for moderating its content. It faces another that could double in size every week unless it reverses its ban on a conservative Russian news channel, although Google says the ban is due to US and UK sanctions against the channel's owner. Twitter and Meta have also faced slowdowns in their services and fines due to their failure to restrain by the standards of Russian regulators.

Russian regulators have also tried to pressure tech companies to comply in non-financial ways. In 2019, the country passed a law that smartphones, computers, and televisions would have to come with pre-installed software from Russian developers, which took effect earlier this year. Companies need to open offices in Russia if they have websites with more than 500,000 daily visitors from the country. Russian officials have also relied on Google and Apple to remove the voting apps of political opponents from their app stores by threatening to prosecute local company employees.