MOSCOW, February 1. /TASS/. Moscow’s Magistrates Court has fined Google 800,000 rubles ($8,816) for refusing to delete information on Youtube about places where drugs may be purchased, about ways to commit suicide and some other data banned from being spread in Russia, according to court documents seen by TASS.

"As the YouTube social network was monitored on September 8, 2023 and on September 11, 2023, Roskomnadzor (the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media - TASS) revealed facts on failure to take actions by the owner of the social network YouTube to limit access to illegal information about places to purchase narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and their ingredients, about ways to commit suicide," according to the document. Moreover, in the reporting period the regulator found videos containing information on how to purchase alcoholic beverages at night remotely, about gambling, as well as videos encouraging teenagers to participate in unauthorized mass events. Roskomnadzor believes that Google, as the owner of Youtube, failed to delete those videos as required by law.

In early December Moscow’s Tagansky District Court found Google guilty under Article 13.50.2 of the Russian Code on Administrative Offenses (failure by the owner of a social network to comply with monitoring obligations aimed at restricting access to information about drug production, ways to commit suicide and pornographic content involving minors) and ruled that it be fined 800,000 rubles. The company faced a fine of up to 4 mln rubles ($44,000).

The so-called law on self-regulation took effect on February 21, 2021. Article 10.6 of the federal law "On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection" obliges social media networks to monitor and delete banned information.