Russian authorities on Tuesday fined Google 6 million rubles, or simply under $82,000, after the corporate did not suits Moscow’s demands to delete prohibited online content.
On Monday, Russia’s internet watchdog, Roskomnadzor, gave Google 24 hours to delete quite 26,000 instances of online media considered to be illegal within the country. If their demands weren’t met, authorities threatened to hamper Google’s services in Russia and levy fines of up to 10 percent of the company’s annual revenue.
Today, Roskomnadzor fined Google in three batches at 2 million rubles apiece, alleging administrative offenses in each case, consistent with Reuters. Much of the prohibited content involves involves social policy following the detention of high-profile Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny in January.
Protests erupted across Russia early this year after Navalny’s arrest. Russian authorities subsequently sued Google, Twitter, Facebook and other sites, alleging they hosted content encouraging children to participate within the protests, which Moscow deemed illegal. Shortly after those lawsuits, Roskomnadzor throttled Twitter in Russia.
The watchdog cited tweets about kiddie porn, drug use and suicide, leaving out any mention of the protests. A fine of but $100,000 is small change for Google, and today’s move from Moscow is more of a warning shot than a final judgement.