Russia’s national communications watchdog announced this week that Google will no longer be allowed to advertise its services in the country. It accused YouTube of allegedly spreading “fake news” about Russia’s military campaign 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 many “violations” of Russian law and was one of the primary platforms undermining Russia’s armed forces by circulating “fake news” during the course of the special military operation in Ukraine.
The watchdog further added that it had chosen to take coercive measures against Google that include a ban on the distribution of advertising for Google LLC and its information resources.
Additionally, it stated that it would notify users who use Google search engines about its legal violations, without providing specifics.
However, the Google News app and website access have already been restricted by the watchdog, which has accused Google of being “anti-Russian”.
Russia demanded last month that Google should stop disseminating threats against Russian residents on YouTube. In March, the regulator also shut down Google’s news aggregator service, accusing it of allowing false information on the military operation in Ukraine to circulate.
Following Putin’s deployment of soldiers to Ukraine on February 24, Russia introduced laws making disseminating “false” information about its troops a criminal punishment with up to 15 years in prison.
It accused YouTube of failing to address the information resources of Ukrainian far-right organisations, the divisive nationalist Azov battalion fighting in Mariupol, and said that more than 12,000 pages designated as extremist by Russia had not been removed.
It further stated that Google has restricted 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 strict measures after Russia declared war against Ukraine.
For example, IBM announced that it has halted all operations in Russia, Microsoft said on March 4 that new sales of its products and services in Russia would be halted.
Even in response to rising pressure on Apple to take action against Russia, in March, the company announced that all product sales in the country have been halted and said that it will also remove Russian state-controlled news outlets RT News and Sputnik from stores outside of Russia, block certain Apple-mapping capabilities in Ukraine and stop exporting to Russia’s sales channel.
Similarly, Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has removed adverts from Russian state media from its website. The company stated 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 also has temporarily halted advertising in Ukraine and Russia to guarantee that vital public safety information is prioritised and ads do not detract from it.
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