A Russian court has fined Google $98 million/£73 million for its failure to delete content that is considered illegal in the country.
A Moscow court also slapped Meta (formerly Facebook) with a $27 million fine on over its failure to delete content banned by the country.
The fines on Google and Meta came as Russia continues to exert more pressure on the big tech firms and the content people publish on their digital platforms. Russia has also passed a law that smartphones, computers, and TVs would have to come with software from Russian developers pre-installed
Google has said it would “study the court documents when they are available and then decide on next steps”. The fine was calculated based on information about Google’s annual revenue provided by the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media
Russia has ordered companies to delete posts promoting drug abuse and dangerous pastimes, information about homemade weapons and explosives, as well as ones by groups it designates as extremist or terrorist.
Russia has also demanded that 13 foreign and mostly U.S. technology companies, with more than 500,000 daily users, which include Google and Meta Platforms, to open offices in Russia or face possible restrictions or outright bans.
Russia have also asked Google and Apple to remove political opponents’ voting apps from their app stores
