A Russian court on friday fined google, the world's largest search engine, for repeatedly failing to remove illegal content. This is the biggest fine at a time when the authorities are stepping up their crackdown on foreign tech companies.



The moscow court said the company had repeatedly failed to comply with orders to remove the banned content. However, google said the fine was calculated based on revenue. 



Google is studying the ruling and will take the next steps, the Moscow-based company's press service said in a statement.



The government has accelerated its confrontation with foreign social media and Internet companies this year in a campaign to defend Russia's wallet PLATFORM' target='_blank' title='digital-Latest Updates, Photos, Videos are a click away, CLICK NOW'>digital sovereignty. 



Regulators have been fined for trying to force companies, including google and Twitter, to remove posts that promote unauthorized protests and content that is considered illegal.



The government is also pressuring tech companies to comply with increasingly stringent laws on data storage localization. google has removed the Protest-Voting app from Russian stores after authorities threatened to detain local staff during this year's parliamentary elections.




However the penalties for failing to remove the content until the latest verdict were generally lower. But companies that do not remove content will face fines ranging from 5% to 20% of their annual local revenue, the Russian Federal Communications Watchdog said in September.

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Sowmiya Sriram

25/12/2021 04:29 PM