---
title: "Russian court fines Google $50.8 mln over 'fake' information on Ukraine war"
description: "MOSCOW, Dec 20 (Reuters) - A Russian court fined Alphabet's Google GOOGL.O on Wednesday 4.6 billion roubles ($50.84 million) for failing to delete so-called \"fake\" information about the conflict in Ukraine, the TASS news agency reported."
type: "NewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "Newsdeck"
author: "Reuters"
author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/reuters/"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023-12-20-russian-court-fines-google-50-8-mln-over-fake-information-on-ukraine-war/"
published: "2023-12-20T13:09:08"
updated: "2023-12-20T13:16:49"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 134
---

# Russian court fines Google $50.8 mln over 'fake' information on Ukraine war

> MOSCOW, Dec 20 (Reuters) - A Russian court fined Alphabet's Google GOOGL.O on Wednesday 4.6 billion roubles ($50.84 million) for failing to delete so-called "fake" information about the conflict in Ukraine, the TASS news agency reported.

By Reuters · Published 20 December 2023, 15:09 SAST · Updated 20 December 2023, 15:16 SAST

## Key points
- In a clash that has been boiling since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, tech giants and the Russian government have continued to spar over censorship, data and local representation.
- Russia has been in conflict with foreign tech companies over content, censorship, data and local representation.
- The dispute intensified after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
- Russia refers to the conflict as a “special military operation”.
- Reuters reported on the situation, edited by Andrew Heavens.

## Content

Russia has been at loggerheads with foreign technology companies over content, censorship, data and local representation in a simmering dispute that intensified after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Russia calls the conflict in Ukraine a "special military operation".

Alphabet's YouTube has been a particular target of the Russian state's ire but, unlike Twitter and Meta Platforms' META.O Facebook and Instagram, it has not been blocked. The fine was calculated as a share of Google's annual turnover in Russia. The company was handed similar turnover-based penalties of 7.2 billion roubles in late 2021 and 21.1 billion roubles in August 2022.

($1 = 90.4825 roubles)

(Reporting by Reuters in Moscow, Alexander Marrow; additional reporting by Filipp Lebedev; editing by Andrew Heavens and Jason Neely)