Google faces hefty fine from Russian watchdog over ‘fake’ YouTube news
Russia’s communications watchdog said Google will face fines over its failure to remove YouTube content that Moscow deems illegal.
Roskomnadzor previously introduced “coercive measures” that ban the tech giant from promoting services deemed to be distributing “fake” news as defined by the Kremlin.
“YouTube video hosting has become one of the key platforms spreading fakes about the course of a special military operation on the territory of Ukraine, discrediting the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation,” the agency has previously said.
“YouTube does not fight the dissemination of information by extremist organizations such as the Right Sector and the nationalist Azov Regiment. To date, more than 12,000 such prohibited materials remain unremoved”, it added.
The Roskomnadzor has also enforced rules that set to penalise the distribution of “fake” news about the Russian military. These can fetch sentences of up to 15 years in prison.
Even prior to the Ukraine invasion, Moscow had a complex relationship with Google, having fined it 7.2bn roubles (£73m) in December repeated failure to delete content deemed illegal in Russia.