Google, Facebook Clarify in Russia Fails Delete Banned Content

A Russian court said on Tuesday it has fined US technology giants Google and Facebook over a failure to delete content that Moscow consider illegal, the latest development in an escalating standoff between Russia and Big Tech.

Russia has already placed a penal slowdown on US social network Twitter for not deleting banned content, part of a push by Moscow to rein in Western tech companies and beef up what it calls its internet “sovereignty.”

Facebook was fined RUB 26 million (roughly Rs. 2.57 crores) in total, on eight separate counts, while Alphabet’s Google was ordered to pay a total of RUB 6 million (roughly Rs. 59.42 crores) for three different offences, Moscow’s Tagansky District Court said

The fines come amid a wider spat between Moscow and Google. Russia’s communications watchdog on Monday warned that Moscow could eventually slow down the company’s traffic in the country if it failed to delete forbid content.