Putin sues Google for waging 'information war' against Russia

Russian officials announced on Tuesday that it was pursuing legal action against Alphabet Inc’s Google for failing to remove banned information from its video-sharing platform, YouTube – accusing the internet giant of promoting “misinformation.”

A recent report shows that Russia’s communications regulator Roskomnadzor could fine Google up to $92,000 – or as much as 20% of the company’s annual Russian revenue – for what it considers repeat offenses in the West’s “information war” against Moscow, Reuters reported.

Since Russian President Vladimir Putin first launched his illegal invasion of Ukraine, Russian officials have blocked several Western outlets in order to prevent outside information about the “special military information” from reaching Russian audiences. To date, it has restricted access to Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Earlier this month, the Kremlin blasted YouTube for blocking Russia state-funded media from its platform and accused the company of spreading threats against Russian citizens.

"The American platform openly enables the spread of false content, containing inaccurate publicly significant information about the course of the special military operation in Ukraine, discrediting the armed forces of the Russian Federation, as well as information of an extremist nature with calls for violence against Russian servicemen," Roskomnadzor said.

Similarly, Russian officials last week said Meta was guilty of “extremist activity.”

Last week, Google began evacuating its staff from Russia as company leadership fears it could become the latest target of an unprecedented crackdown on free speech as Putin’s war against the West continues to face major setbacks. A recent Bloomberg report shows that in recent weeks the web giant has helped some 244 employees emigrate from Russia.

Following the invasion of Ukraine, Google suspended all advertising in Russia and YouTube said it has removed more than 1,000 channels related to the invasion – including one run by Russia’s Ministry of Defense – for violating company policies.