Russia fines Google, Meta record $125 mn over banned content

A Moscow court on Friday fined Google a record 7.2 billion rubles (US$98 million), while Meta (formerly Facebook) was fined 1.9 billion rubles for repeatedly failing to delete illegal content.

"For the first time, a Russian court has imposed fines that make up a share of the annual revenue of these companies in Russia," Russia's state communications regulator Roskomnadzor said in a statement.

The regulator said Google and Meta had "ignored multiple demands" to remove materials that incite religious hatred and promote views of "extremist and terrorist organizations."

"We'll study the court documents and then decide on next steps," Google's press service said on Friday. There was no immediate comment from Meta.