MOSCOW, Oct 19 Reuters said that on Tuesday it would seek to fine U.S. tech giant Google for repeatedly failing to delete content that was deemed illegal, Moscow's strongest effort yet to contain foreign firms.
Roskomnadzor said Google failed to pay 32.5 million roubles $458,100 in penalties levied so far this year and would now seek a fine of 5 - 20% of Google's Russian turnover, which could reach as much as $240 million, a significant increase.
Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Russia has ramped up pressure https: www.reuters.co.uk com world in europe russia-ramps - up-pressure - foreign tech firms as it seeks to apply election to foreign tech companies for security reasons, as it seeks to assert greater control over the internet in the country, slowing down the speed of Twitter since March and routinely fine other businesses for content violations.
The Opposition activists have accused Alphabet's Google and Apple of caving to Kremlin pressure after they removed an anti-government tactical voting app from their stores.
Roskomnadzor earlier in October said it would ask a court to impose a turnover fine on social media firm Facebook https://www.reuters.com/fb/firewall.html. Another similar case against Google will be put together in October against YouTube, Roskomnadzor told Reuters on Tuesday in emailed comments, noting that the company also owned video hosting site YouTube.
The SPARK business database showed that Google's turnover in Russia in 2020 was 85.5 billion roubles. A 5 - 20% fine would amount to between 4.3 and 17.1 billion roubles.
Google is currently fighting a court ruling demanding it unblock the YouTube account of a sanctioned Russian businessman or face a compounding fine on its overall turnover which would double every week and force Google out of business within months if paid.