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| Russia gives Google 24 hours to remove blocked content |
The Russian Communications Supervisory Authority has given Google 24 hours to remove or penalize Google for the banned content described in it, saying Moscow may slow down traffic to the company in the country.
Russia imposed this penalty on the US social network Twitter for failing to remove banned content when Moscow tried to contain Western tech giants and promote its so-called Internet sovereignty.
Supervisor Roskomnadzor said that more than 26,000 requests have been sent to Google to remove illegal information, including videos containing drug information or violent information and materials from extremist organizations.
Roskomnadzor said that if you do not restrict access to the blocked information, Google will be fined from 800,000 to 4 million rubles ($ 10,800 to $ 54,000).
She added that repeated violations would result in a fine of 10% of the company's total annual sales.
Roskomnadzor also accused Google of implementing censorship and restricting access to Russian media (including RT and Sputnik) via YouTube.
"This censorship of Russian media and targeted support for illegal protests actually shows the political color of Google's activities in Russia," Roskomnadzor said.
Last week, Google, a Russian affiliate of Google, appealed a court order in Moscow requiring the company to unblock the YouTube account of a news anchor affiliated with a Russian businessman facing economic sanctions from the United States and the European Union.
Court documents from Moscow also show that Google is suing Roskomnadzor over his request to remove the banned content.
Roskomnadzor said the lawsuit included 12 illegal links to YouTube content, including encouraging minors to participate in unauthorized protests in January when people took to the streets across Russia to support imprisoned critic Alexei. Navani.
Navani and his allies have used YouTube extensively to spread corruption messages against top Russian officials and to organize opposition activities.
A strong critic of President Vladimir Putin's YouTube channel has 6.5 million subscribers.
According to the Moscow Arbitration Court, Google filed a lawsuit on April 23. However, after resolving some administrative issues, Google was approved on May 11 and a hearing was scheduled for July 14.