Google has been fined by Russia.
A Russian court fined Google a series of modest sums on Thursday for failing to remove problematic YouTube videos about the Kremlin’s military intervention in Ukraine.
For disregarding the country’s media regulator’s demands to remove posters suggesting massive Russian losses in Ukraine, a Moscow court sentenced the tech behemoth to pay a total of eleven million rubles ($135,000).
According to Russian state news outlets, one of the films validated a claimed cellphone conversation between Russian servicemen and their family who had come home, in which the troops reported of several losses among their ranks.
According to official media, soldiers attempting to withdraw from Ukrainian counter-offensives were shot by retreat-blocking Russian detachments.
Throughout Russia’s nearly two-month assault in Ukraine, Google’s omnipresent video hosting service has been in the crosshairs.
Russian officials were enraged when the tech giant blocked the official media channel of the lower house of parliament earlier this month.
Since the start of the operation on February 24, Russia has moved quickly to restrict access to non-state media and information resources.
Russian courts have banned Facebook and Instagram, as well as Twitter, for being “extremist” groups.
All three are still available through VPN services that seek to hide the user’s location.
The majority of Russians, on the other hand, obtain their news through state television and other government-controlled media outlets, which must adhere to rigorous laws in order to conceal the navy’s marketing drive.