(MOSCOW) A Moscow court on Friday fined Google 130 million Canadians and $35 million against Meta, the parent company of Facebook, for failing to remove content prohibited under local law, as Russia seeks to step up pressure on tech giants.
The Tagansky District Court ruled that Google repeatedly neglected to remove prohibited content and ordered the company to pay an administrative fine of about 7.2 billion rubles (about 126 million).
Google said it would study court documents before deciding on its next steps.
Later on Friday, the court also fined Meta nearly 2 billion rubles (35 million) for failing to remove the banned content.
Russian courts have already imposed lower fines on Google, Facebook and Twitter this year, and Friday’s rulings marked the first time the fine had been calculated based on income.
Russia’s state communications watchdog Roskomnadzor said Google and Meta are specifically accused of violating a ban on distributing content promoting extremist ideology, insulting religious beliefs and encouraging minors to engage in dangerous behavior, among other things.
“Subtly charming problem solver. Extreme tv enthusiast. Web scholar. Evil beer expert. Music nerd. Food junkie.”