Russia in recent months has been taking legal action against
foreign tech companies for not deleting content banned by the authorities,
including pornographic material or posts deemed extremist or condoning drugs or
suicide.
On Tuesday the Tagansky district court slapped Google with
five separate fines totalling RUB 14 million (roughly Rs. 1.4 crores) for the
violation, the RIA Novosti news agency reported, citing the court's press
service.
The US company was fined RUB 6 million for the same charge
at the end of May and three million rubles in December.
Russia routinely fines Western tech companies for failing to
comply with its legislation.
Last month the Tagansky district court found Google guilty
of breaching data localisation laws and fined the company three million rubles.
It was the first time the US company was penalised for
violating the controversial law passed in 2014 that requires the personal data
of Russian users to be stored inside Russia.
But Moscow has ramped up the pressure on foreign social
media companies in recent months in particular after accusing them last winter
of not removing posts calling for minors to join protests in support of jailed
Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.
Facebook has been handed fines for failing to remove illegal
content, while Twitter has had its service speeds in Russia throttled.
In recent years, the Russian government has also been
tightening control over the internet under the pretext of fighting extremism
and protecting minors.
But government critics have denounced official oversight of
the web as a means to stifle debate and silence dissent.
© Reuters
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