Russia Fines Google And TikTok For Failure To Comply With Content Regulations

JAKARTA - On Wednesday, July 31, Russia imposed fines on Google and TikTok for failing to comply with orders from communications regulator Roskomnadzor regarding illicit content. This was revealed according to a Moscow court press service.

Moscow's Tagansky District Court fined Google 5 million rubles (around Rp957.4 million) and TikTok 4 million rubles (Rp765.9 million) for failing to identify content very similar to the content previously ordered to be removed.

Google and TikTok have yet to comment on this fine.

Over the past few years, Russia has ordered foreign technology platforms to remove content deemed illegal, providing small but persistent fines when there was a failure to comply with the regulation. Moscow specifically criticized Google for removing YouTube channels from Russian media and public figures.

Russia has imposed fines on Google several times in recent years. A number of fines include:

July 2021: Google was fined 3 million rubles (around Rp574.4 million) for failing to remove content deemed illegal by Russia.

October 2021: Google was fined 7.2 million rubles (approximately IDR 1.3 billion) for non-compliance with removing content that violates Russian law.

March 2022: Google was fined 11 million rubles (approximately IDR 2.1 billion) by the Moscow court for the same offense.

December 2023: A fine of 14 million rubles (around Rp. 2.6 billion) was imposed on Google regarding content removal.

These fines reflect tensions between Russia and foreign technology companies over content control and compliance with local law.