Russia continues its hard line against Western tech giants and once again imposes a fine on Google – this time for YouTube videos allegedly showing Russian soldiers how to surrender.
Watching Military Academy and looking up "tips for conscription" online – like drinking three pots of coffee or inviting all the neighborhood cats if you're allergic to cat hair – if you remember those times, here's my question: How was your back this morning after waking up?
However, the situation is more serious in Russia – people there aren't looking for tips to avoid military service, but for advice on how to surrender. This has prompted Russia to take action, imposing a fine on Google for spreading such videos. Here's everything you need to know about it.
Russia Imposes Fine On Google
A Russian court has fined Google – YouTube's parent company – 3.8 million roubles (approx. 43,000 US dollars) per video for allegedly publishing videos on YouTube that showed Russian soldiers how to surrender. The Russian authorities accuse Google of distributing “fake” content that violates national laws. This is another step in Moscow's ongoing effort to tighten control over foreign tech platforms and prevent the spread of unwelcome content. Perhaps Putin discovered the surrender videos while a green owl was teaching him Korean...
Russia is taking steps to slow down Google services, but officially claims that the access problems are due to Google's inadequate infrastructure. While YouTube remains one of the last major Western platforms to be accessible in Russia, control of the internet in the country is increasingly in focus. Despite repeated punishments for undesirable content, the government is tightening its measures against Western online services.
Russia vs. YouTube: The Next Punch
This is not the first time that Russia has wanted to put obstacles in Google's way after content critical of the Kremlin circulated on YouTube. The government has already been accused of deliberately slowing down the platform in order to make access to undesirable videos more difficult.
Officially, it was also said at the time that Google was not maintaining its infrastructure – tech experts contradict this claim. Despite the pressure, YouTube remains one of the last major Western platforms still available in Russia.
In 2022, Google had to send its Russian subsidiary into bankruptcy as it accumulated billions in debt.
Tensions between Silicon Valley and Russia continue to escalate and it is uncertain how long YouTube will be able to withstand the political pressure. Things got really absurd when Russia wanted to impose a fine of 20 decillion dollars on Google. That's a 2 followed by 61 zeros – in other words, more money than exists in the entire world. Russia was of course taking its cue from the documentary Austin Powers, in which Dr. Evil demands a billion gagillion fafillion shabadabalo dollars...
What would you do with 20 decillion? Tell us in the comments!