Moscow Slaps Google With Fine For YouTube Video Showing Russian Troops How To Surrender

A Russian court has imposed a fine on Alphabet Inc.'s GOOGL GOOGL Google for hosting a YouTube video that provides instructions to Russian soldiers on how to surrender.

What Happened: The fine amounts to 3.8 million roubles ($41,530), reported Reuters on Monday, citing Russia’s TASS news agency.

Google did not immediately respond to Benzinga's request for comments.

Critics have accused Russian authorities of deliberately slowing down YouTube’s download speeds to restrict access to content critical of President Vladimir Putin and his administration.

However, Russia denies these allegations, attributing the issues to Google’s alleged failure to upgrade its equipment.

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Why It's Important: This fine is part of a broader pattern of actions by the Russian government to control online content. ByteDance-owned TikTok and Amazon Inc.'s AMZN Twitch were fined also for not adhering to censorship regulations.

WhatsApp, owned by Meta Platforms Inc. META, has also faced a fine of up to four million roubles in 2023 for not removing banned content.

Last year, the Russian government directed Apple Inc. AAPL to remove 25 VPN applications from its App Store. These apps were allegedly used to access content deemed illegal in Russia. 

Price Action: At the time of writing, Alphabet’s Class A shares inched up 0.0054% in after-hours trading to $185.24, while Class C shares rose 0.052% to $186.97, according to Benzinga Pro data.

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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.