Google pays 700,000-ruble fine for refusing to filter search results according to Russian demands

Google has paid a 700,000-ruble ($11,000) fine in Russia, where the federal censor penalized the tech company for refusing to block all content banned by Russian officials. According to Roskomnadzor, Google only selectively filters search results, and roughly a third of the hyperlinks blacklisted in Russia are still available to the search engine’s users. 

According to the newspaper Vedomosti, Google regularly removes hyperlinks to banned websites from its search results. The company doesn’t delete these links automatically, however, but examines them individually, to see if the content violates Google’s own terms and standards. 

Russian law requires Internet search engines to delete hyperlinks to blocked websites. To facilitate these regulations, search engines are also required to connect to Russia’s registry of banned websites. In early 2019, Google paid a 500,000-ruble ($7,785) fine for refusing to connect to this registry.