This week, a Moscow court issued a fine of 15 million rubles (approximately $164,200) to Google for failing to store Russian users' personal data within the country. This marks another instance of fines imposed on the U.S. tech giant amid tensions between Russia and the West due to the conflict in Ukraine. The court's decision came after Google had previously been fined for the same charges in Russia. Google declined to provide a comment on the matter.

In February 2022, Google was fined 2 billion rubles by the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) for abusing its dominant position in the video hosting market, through a lack of transparency and predictability in its user and content blocking practices on YouTube. 

After appealing the decision but not getting a response in due time, Google was fined twice the previous amount, $47 million (around 4 billion rubles), for failure of payment.

The list goes on. In August 2023, another $32,000 (around 3 million rubles) fine was imposed on Google for failing to take down false information regarding the ongoing war in Ukraine. As per the news, videos containing inaccurate and false information related to the conflict (identified as a “special military operation” by Russia) were being circulated on YouTube.

However, Russia faces challenges in collecting these fines as Google's operations in the country were effectively shut down following Moscow's military intervention in Ukraine last year. Google claimed to have filed for bankruptcy in Russia after the company bank account was seized, preventing payment to staff and suppliers.

Other tech entities, including Apple and the Wikimedia Foundation (host of Wikipedia), have also faced fines from Russian courts. 

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