Internet
Google and Telegram fined in Russia
The logo of the Google app can be seen on the screen of a smartphone. Photo: Fabian Sommer / dpa
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In Russia, platforms like Google and Telegram will be fined more than two million euros this year – allegedly they have not deleted prohibited content. Activists see this as a pretext.
The IT giant Google and the messenger service Telegram have been fined again in Russia for allegedly failing to delete prohibited content.
Google would have to pay two million rubles (24,200 euros) and Telegram four million rubles (48,400 euros), the agency Interfax reported on Monday, citing a Moscow court.
In the past few months, Russian courts have repeatedly fined foreign IT companies – including Facebook, Twitter and Tiktok. The authorities accuse the platforms, among other things, of not consistently removing calls for unauthorized demonstrations or child pornographic content. Net activists, on the other hand, repeatedly criticize the procedure as repression against the free Internet in Russia.
Between the beginning of the year and the beginning of November, the fines against various Internet companies amounted to more than 180 million rubles (2.2 million euros) according to official information. Citing a court spokeswoman, Russian media reported in September that the majority of companies had not yet paid.