On Friday, July 22, Google revealed that its search engine is banned in the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk. The two regions are currently under Russian occupation.
The Russian authorities accused the tech giant of promoting terrorism and violence against all Russians.
Google is Banned in Eastern Ukraine
In a statement obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, Denis Pushilin, the head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) said that the "inhuman propaganda of Ukraine and the west has cross the boundaries."
Pushillin said that there is persecution of Russians due to disinformation and lies. He also accused Google's search engine of being at the forefront of the effort.
Pushilin added that Google promotes terrorism and violence against all Russians and that the US government curates it.
Announcing the decision to block Google, Pushilin added that they've decided to do it because Google is "pursuing its criminal policy," and the ban will only be lifted if it returns to the mainstream of law.
The DPR and the Luhansk People's Republic or LPR have banned Facebook and Instagram, which have also been restricted in Russia after the Moscow court found Meta guilty of "extremist activity."
Russia, North Korea, and Syria are the only UN member states to recognize the self-proclaimed republics in Donetsk and Luhansk as legitimate authorities.
Both the LPR and DPR were set up in 2014 and have been labeled as terrorist organizations by Ukrainian authorities in Kyiv.
Russia Fines Google
Right after Russia invaded Ukraine back in February, Google formed its exit strategy from Russia, suspending all ads by March, completely blocking the Google Play Store app sales, and removing most of the employees in the country by May.
After that fiasco, Google has only continued to provide free services to Russian internet users, like Gmail, Search, Maps, or YouTube, and now Google might be paying big for its decision to pull out of the country.
On July 21, Russian regulator Roskomnadzor announced that a Russian court ordered the tech giant to pay its steepest fine yet since the war began, citing the search giant's repeated failure to remove prohibited content deemed fake.
Unless Google manages to appeal the court's decision, it will have to fork over $374 million for not restricting content that goes against Russian interests.
This includes content discrediting the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation or AFRF, promoting extremism, or inciting the youth to join mass protests.
According to Ars Technica, Google knew that a fine was coming. However, it did not know how massive the fine was.
Roskomnadzor warned Google in June that it would be fined 5% to 10% of its annual turnover, but TechCrunch estimates that ultimately the new fine would be around 15% of the company's annual turnover.
It is not yet clear if Google will pay up or resist the order by the Russian court. In December 2021, Russia ordered the search giant to pay a $98 million fine, the first revenue-based fine of its kind in Russia.
Related Article: After Google, Russia Has Now Fined Airbnb, Twitch, and Pinterest for Data Legislation Violation
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Written by Sophie Webster
