Russia’s national communications watchdog announced this week that Google would no longer be allowed to advertise its services in the country. It accused YouTube of allegedly spreading “fake news” about Russia’s military operation in Ukraine that President Vladimir Putin called a “special military operation”.
Russia has taken steps to restrict access to non-state media and information sources, raising fears that Google will be next.
According to the watchdog, Google-owned YouTube had committed several “violations” of Russian law and was one of the primary platforms undermining Russia’s armed forces by broadcasting “fake news” during a special military operation in Ukraine.
The watchdog further stated that it has chosen to pursue coercion against Google including a ban on the distribution of advertising to Google LLC and its information resources.
Additionally, it stated that it will notify users who use the Google search engine about its legal violations without providing details.
However, access to the Google News app and website has already been banned by the watchdog, which has accused Google of being “anti-Russian”.
Russia last month demanded that Google stop spreading threats on YouTube against Russian residents. In March, the regulator also shut down Google’s news aggregator service, alleging it had been allowed to disseminate false information on military operations in Ukraine.
After Putin’s deployment of troops to Ukraine on February 24, Russia introduced laws punishing criminals with up to 15 years in prison for spreading “false” information about their soldiers.
It accused YouTube of failing to address the information resources of Ukrainian far-right organizations, the divisive nationalist Azov Battalion fighting in Mariupol, and said more than 12,000 pages designated by Russia as extremist had not been removed.
It further said that Google has banned state-owned media outlets such as RT and Sputnik, as well as other Russian news outlets.
Apart from Google, there are other international companies that took tough steps after Russia declared war on Ukraine.
For example, after IBM announced that it had halted all operations in Russia, Microsoft said on March 4 that it would halt new sales of its products and services in Russia.
Also in response to mounting pressure on Apple to take action against Russia, the company announced in March that all product sales in the country had been halted and said it would sell outside stores to Russian state-controlled news outlets RT News and Sputnik. Will remove it too. of Russia, block some Apple-mapping capabilities in Ukraine and stop exporting to Russia’s sales channel.
Similarly, Facebook’s parent company Meta has removed ads from Russian state media from its website. The company said it is in communication with the Ukrainian government and has banned access to various accounts in the nation belonging to Russian state media groups.
Additionally, microblogging platform Twitter has also temporarily blocked advertising in Ukraine and Russia to ensure that important public safety information is prioritized and that advertisements do not detract from it.
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