Google Has Disabled AdSense Accounts of Russian Customers

Google disables Russian-based AdSense (photo: dock. Google)

JAKARTA – Google announced that they have disabled AdSense accounts in Russia. Starting Monday, August 12, Google will no longer be able to pay advertising service users from the country.

As reported by Reuters, the unnamed Google spokesperson said that AdSense accounts in Russia cannot monetize traffic outside the country. Therefore, the only option is to disable the customer's AdSense account.

"Due to ongoing developments in Russia, we will not be able to make payments to AdSense accounts based in Russia that can continue to monetize traffic outside of Russia," the spokesperson said.

Google did not detail what developments caused them to disable the customer's AdSense account. However, before this news was announced, Google had sent a message to all customer accounts in Russia.

"Your July earnings will be disbursed around August 21-26, assuming you have no active payment holds and meet the minimum payment threshold," explained Google.

Since last July, YouTube in Russia has been slow to operate and peaked in early August. The video platform under Google's auspices experienced more severe disruptions to the point that complaints about YouTube not operating continued to emerge.

In fact, YouTube is the last bastion for free speech in Russia. This platform is able to accommodate content created by opponents of the Kremlin because other social media platforms will delete the content.

Last March, the Russian government made a law prohibiting any advertising from Foreign Agents, a term for anti-Kremlin media and activists and politicians, in published media. This rule also applies to platforms such as YouTube.