Russia Fines Google for Search Results Law Violation

The Russian government has slapped Google with a 500,000 rouble fine (about $7,530 USD) for violations of local search engine laws. In Russia, it is required for online search engines to delete some results from Russian language pages in the event the results contain information the government deems unsafe or illegal.

Russian watchdog organization Roscomnadzor has been keeping a close eye on Google lately. Last month, a civil case was opened against Google by Moscow for failing to register with a state list of banned websites. This list, again, is to keep a comprehensive database of sites that contain illegal information. According to the head of Roscomnadzor, Alexander Zharov, a second case against Google could be opened up if they fail to remove the illegal sites from their search results as directed. Google has declined to comment on either incident.

Russia has been ramping up its internet security over the past five years, requiring, among other things, messaging systems to share encryption data with security firms and social networks to store Russian user data exclusively in Russian-based servers. It is unclear what Google’s move will be here, but if they want to continue business in Russia, they will likely have to acquiesce to Moscow’s demands.

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5 years ago
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