A Russian court recently fined Google’s parent company Alphabet for failing to delete YouTube videos it said contained “LGBT propaganda” and “false information” about Russia’s military action in Ukraine, Russian news agencies reported.LGBT and misinformation fined by Google
Last year, Moscow fined dozens of Western tech companies as part of efforts to increase control over what Russian internet users see online. Russia, which enacted strict censorship laws shortly after sending troops to Ukraine, strengthened its laws against civil rights, which it called “encouragement of LGBT propaganda”, last year. In light of this information, Russia fined Google 3 million rubles for not deleting YouTube videos it said contained “LGBT propaganda” and “false information” about Russia’s military action in Ukraine. This penalty amounts to approximately $38,000.
On the other hand, the scope of what qualifies as “LGBT propaganda” in the country is extremely wide. In this context, propaganda in public, on the Internet, or in movies, books or advertisements is considered a crime. He said a blogger, described by Moscow as a “foreign agent”, refused to remove some videos, including videos about gay couples raising children and the LGBT community in Petersburg.Google’s subsidiary in Russia filed for bankruptcy last year after Russian authorities fined 7.2 billion rubles ($92.6 million) in December 2021 for the company’s “repeated failure” to delete the requested content, and authorities seized bank accounts. Russia also fined Google $358 million last year for failing to remove content.
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