Politics

Russia fines Google over refusal to remove ‘fake info’ on Ukraine war

Moscow, Apr 21 (EFE).- A Moscow court has slapped fines amounting to almost 11 million rubles ($138,000) on Google for spreading “fake information” about Russia’s “special operation in Ukraine,” Russia’s state-run news agency reported Thursday.

“(The court) finds Google LLC guilty of an administrative offense and imposes a 7-million-ruble fine on the company,” a judge was quoted as saying by Interfax.

The court said that “Google was brought to administrative liability over the failure to remove incorrect information about the special operation in Ukraine, including information about fatalities among the Ukrainian civilian population and Russian servicemen, extremist comments on Russian citizens and the Russian administration and calls for violence against them,” according to the news agency.

A separate ruling earlier on Thursday found Google guilty of a similar offense and a 4 million ruble fine was issued, Interfax said.

Moscow has said that by late March Google had been reprimanded five times and Russian authorities had demanded the tech giant remove certain information it deemed false.

After Google ignored the Kremlin’s warnings, Russia’s communications watchdog Roskomnadzor took the company to court.

Russia has a history of restricting access to social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Youtube, which is owned by Google, blocked global access to Russian-sponsored media, including Russia Today, Rossiya 24 and Sputnik, citing a policy that bars content that denies, minimizes or trivializes well-documented violent events. EFE

mos/ch/jt

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