Russia continues its digital censorship. A Moscow court issued a decision on Monday good Google 21,000 million rubles (more than 357 million euros) for hosting content that condemns ukraine war rather than withdrawing them as required by restrictive national law.

Roskomnadzor, the body that regulates telecommunications in the country, assured that the sanction stemmed from Google and YouTube, both owned by Alphabet parent company. They did not block “false information” about the invasion of Ukraine neither edited by the Kremlin nor “spread the excess and terrorism“, in terms they refer to critical movements and opposition to the Vladimir Putin regime.

It is difficult for the US multinational to pay this fine since June 17. Russian subsidiary declares bankruptcy, drowned by authorities Russian officials who chose to confiscate his bank account a month ago. Previously, Google had stopped selling ads in Russia and had withdrawn the ability to monetize Russian propaganda videos. Last year, Google’s Russia branch already suffered losses worth $409 million. However, the company has free services provided such as your browser, Google Maps, Gmail and Android operating system. Do not completely disconnect the Russian people.

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Expert Vladimir Zykov told the Ria-Novosti news agency that today’s fine would be the largest ever imposed on a tech giant in Russia. Even so, such fines are commonplace in the country, because The Kremlin’s mechanism for trying to control information what’s on the internet

In March, shortly after the military invasion of Ukraine began, the Kremlin blamed both Google and YouTube. allow “terrorist activities”. The same accusation served to force Moscow to ban Facebook and Instagram, both owned by Meta parent company, in May after they temporarily changed their policies to allow them and in the context of the war, to hate messages against Russian troops. Praise for the neo-Nazi paramilitary group Azov Battalion fighting for the Ukrainian ranks.

Invasion of Ukraine served Putin empowering the censorship device and silencing critical information with his government and the course of the war. In early March, the Kremlin passed a law punishing those who spread “false information” about the military with up to 15 years in prison, a measure forcing major international media outlets to deport them.