Google Loses Appeal In Russia, Forced To Pay Tsargrad IDR 15 Million Per Day

JAKARTA - The television channel of a Western sanctioned Russian businessman said on Thursday, March 17, that Alphabet Inc's Google had lost an appeals court against the 2021 ruling. Google was required to pay compound fines for blocking access to their YouTube channel.

The Moscow District Court of Arbitration was unable to provide information by telephone and did not respond to an email request for comment requested by Reuters. Google, which Tsargrad said blocked YouTube accounts in July 2020, did not respond to requests for comment on the case.

Google has disputed the daily fine of 100.000 rubles (IDR 15 million) it was ordered to pay in April 2021 after failing to unblock Tsargrad TV's YouTube account. This is, the Orthodox Christian channel owned by Russian businessman, Konstantin Malofeev.

The Moscow Court of Arbitration said last year the daily fine would double every week if Google failed to comply. Tsargrad said Google was already owed a fine of 1 billion rubles (IDR 138 billion), as of mid-March.

"Today, an execution order has been issued, an enforcement order has been initiated and sufficient funds to fulfill a court action have been confiscated from Google accounts," Tsargrad said in a statement.

The heated confrontation between Moscow and foreign technology companies has escalated in connection with the crisis in Ukraine. Russia has blocked access to Meta Platforms Inc's social media mainstays, Facebook and Instagram.

Tsargrad said the fine would stop accruing when it reached 1 billion rubles. However, starting in September, this limit will be removed.

The United States and the European Union also imposed sanctions on Malofeev in 2014 over allegations he was funding pro-Moscow separatists fighting in Ukraine. However, they denied this. Russia itself considers such Western sanctions illegal.

Malofeev said Tsargrad intends to file a new lawsuit against Google, which demands the account be blocked in another country.

"Some local courts will refuse to support us, for example, in the United States, because I am under sanctions. But elsewhere they will help us," Malofeev told Reuters. "Thank God Google is in India, China, Brazil, and other countries. We will raise money there until the court's decision is fully realized."