A political stance that could cost Google dearly. The American company is in the middle of a legal war with Russia after the blocking of 17 YouTube channels accused of making “propaganda” for the Kremlin. This summer, the American company was forced by the courts to restore access to these accounts, under penalty of having to pay 100,000 rubles per day for non-compliance of this decision, reports BFM TV. This sum is doubled every week, causing the Tech giant's slate to climb to stratospheric levels. According to information on the site Kommersanta few months after the court decision, the fine imposed on Google now amounts to much more than the world's GDP. The score is equivalent to 20 billion million billion dollars, a number with 36 zeros which could well be a record in the field.
The reasons for the discord
It was in 2020 that the case was brought before the Russian courts for the first time. The account of the Tsargrad TV channel was made inaccessible following American sanctions targeting the owner company. The latter took legal action to obtain compensation. Two years later, YouTube channels “associated with Russian state-funded media outlets around the world” were blocked in accordance with the terms of use of the platform.
At the time, Alphabet justified this decision by respect for his “conductive lines which prohibit content that denies, minimizes or trivializes well-documented violent events.” The company added: “We are removing content about the Russian invasion of Ukraine that violates this policy”. Russian justice thus took up the problem to question a possible monopolistic situation of the giant Mountain View. This summer, the court ordered the reinstatement of the 17 channels, with an increasing and unlimited fine.
“Google clearly will not pay this penalty”
All the gold in the world won't be enough. The fine imposed on Google is too large for the company to ever pay. It is a political coup in a standoff between the country and GAFAM. According to an expert cited by the Russian news agency TASS, Roman Yankovsky, the company “will clearly not pay this penalty, and the Russian Federation will not be able to recover this money from the company.”
If necessary, Google would also find itself in difficulty vis-à-vis American sanctions which prevent companies domiciled in Uncle Sam's country from trade with Russia since the invasion of Ukraine. According to Fyodor Kravchenko, associate director of the college of media lawyers interviewed by Kommersant,“Russian courts deliberately made such a difficult decision not to indicate the legal position of the plaintiffs, but to establish the Kremlin's political position towards all technological platforms”.
Note that if YouTube and Google are still accessible in Russiathe subsidiary nevertheless declared bankruptcy in 2022. The tools have no longer been updated since the Russian attack against Ukraine and the local operator Rostelekom mentioned Friday a “slow-down” of YouTube following technical problems, adds BFM TV. Google has not yet officially communicated on this matter.
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