Google News drops a Russian news outlet tied to the infamous ‘troll factory’

The aggregator Google News has stopped carrying stories from the Federal News Agency (FAN), which journalists at the magazine RBC have linked to Russia’s infamous “troll factory.” FAN has called the move an “act of political censorship” that benefits the U.S. government, accusing the news aggregator of trying to restrict users’ access to information about the fight against international terrorism.

FAN presents itself as a leading news outlet on information about the war in Syria, reporting favorably on the actions of the Syrian government and Russian troops against terrorist forces.

Representatives from FAN say they plan to challenge Google’s decision in court, and take the matter to antitrust officials and “other law enforcement agencies.”

The Federal News Agency was created in 2014, and it was initially based in the same office in St. Petersburg as the infamous “troll factory,” which was allegedly founded by the catering magnate Evgeny Prigozhin. According to an investigative report published by RBC in March 2017, the troll factory is tied to a whole “media group” that includes half a dozen publications, where FAN is the most prominent. The total audience for the media network was estimated to be 11 million unique viewers a month.