Russian Regulator, Roskomnadzor, Has Accused Google Of Distributing Fake Content On YouTube

JAKARTA - Russia's communications watchdog said on Thursday, April 7, that it was taking punitive action against Google. This move, including a ban on advertising the platform and its sources of information, violates Russian law.

Roskomnadzor accused the YouTube video-sharing platform Google, which has shut down Russian state-funded media globally, of being "one of the main platforms for spreading false content (fake images) about the course of (Russian) special military operations on Ukrainian territory, discrediting the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation."

Roskomnadzor said the action against Google, which is owned by Alphabet Inc., which includes a warning on the search engine saying it violates Russian law, will remain in effect until Google complies with the law.

Google itself did not immediately respond to requests for comment from the media.

Reuters reported last month that Russia demanded that Google stop spreading what it called threats against Russian citizens on YouTube.

Regulators also blocked Google's news aggregator service in March, accusing it of allowing access to false material about military operations in Ukraine.

Russia's parliament last month also passed a law that carries a prison sentence of up to 15 years for deliberately spreading "fake" news in contrast to government reports of Russian military action.

The desire to control information about its campaign in Ukraine has heightened Moscow's longstanding tensions with foreign technology companies.

Russia is also angry that the Meta Platform allowed social media users in Ukraine to send messages such as "Death to the Russian invaders". Moscow even blocked Instagram in March, and has cut off access to Facebook because the social media platform has imposed restrictions on Russian media.

Russia sent tens of thousands of troops to Ukraine on February 24 in what it called a special operation to undermine its southern neighbor's military capabilities and root out what it called dangerous nationalists.

Ukrainian forces have fought back fiercely and the West has imposed sweeping sanctions in a bid to force Russia to withdraw its troops.