NEW DELHI: Russia’s competition regulator Tuesday fined Google 2 billion rubles ($34.2 million) for abusing its dominant position in the video hosting market, the regulator said in a statement. The decision is the latest multimillion-dollar fine in Moscow’s increasingly assertive campaign against foreign tech companies. The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) said the company “abused its dominant position in the YouTube market for video hosting services,” without giving further details.
“We will study the text of the official decision to define our next steps,” Google said in a statement to Reuters. (ALSO READ: HCL CEO C Vijayakumar Becomes Highest Paid Indian IT CEO: That’s How Much He Earned Last Year)
Google must pay the fine within two months of the effective date, the FAS said. (ALSO READ: Sensex, Nifty Slip Almost 1% on Losses in IT and Banking Stocks)
Russia has imposed numerous fines on Google’s Russian subsidiary in recent months. Last week, a court ordered people to pay 21.1 billion rubles ($358.7 million) for prosecutors’ repeated refusal to remove content Russia deems illegal, such as “fake news” about Russia invasion of Ukraine.
Since Moscow launched its so-called “military special operation” in Ukraine, it has also accelerated domestic attacks on Western tech companies to exert more control over the online space, including by helping domestic actors edge out their Western rivals.
Gazprom Media — a media conglomerate affiliated with state-controlled gas giant Gazprom — has been heavily promoting RuTube, its Russian alternative to YouTube, which has seen a sharp spike in traffic since February.
YouTube, which has blocked state-funded Russian media worldwide, is under intense pressure from Russia’s communications regulator and politicians.
Google stopped selling online advertising in Russia in early March, but has kept some free services available. The Russian subsidiary officially declared bankruptcy after authorities confiscated its bank account, making it impossible to pay employees and suppliers.