Russia’s competition watchdog fined Google 2 billion rubles (33 million euros) on Tuesday and accused the tech giant of violating competition laws with its YouTube video platform.
According to a Reuters report, Google really has no respite in Russia. The American giant has just been fined a new fine of around 33 million euros, or 2 billion rublesfor allegedly having abused its position in hosting videos on its YouTube platform.
Indeed, Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) claims that the company Alphabet has ” abused its dominant position in the market for YouTube video hosting services “, according to a local media. Google said it will review the official court decision to see if it wants to appeal, but the company will have to pay the fine within two months.
Russia continues to fine Google
Russia has imposed numerous fines on Google’s Russian subsidiary in recent months. A court last week ordered her to pay 21.1 billion rubles (368 million euros) for repeatedly refusing, according to prosecutors, to remove content deemed illegal by Russia, such as “fake news” about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Russia had already requested their withdrawal last March.
Another fine of $170,000 was imposed on the company in April for allegedly disseminated inaccurate information about Russian troop losses in Ukraine. For the moment, it is not really known if Google will pay all these fines. As a reminder, Google was forced a few months ago to file for bankruptcy in Russia after Russian authorities seized its bank account and made it virtually impossible for the company to continue operations in the country.
Many large American technology companies have been blocked by the Russian government in the country or have decided to restrict their services in response to the invasion of Ukraine. We therefore imagine that Google will not simply pay its fines without its army of lawyers finding flaws in the Russian judicial decisions.
Source: Reuters