Google has finally decided to the bow down to the demands of the Russian government after it received a penalty of $7,500 from the regulatory authority for refusing to comply with the laws regarding data security and control of search engine results.
The news is out that from now on Google will not list the blacklisted websites suggested by the Russian government in its search results. This includes mostly those from the United States and those nations which the Vladimir Putin nation considers a threat to their national integrity and their populace.
Though the California based internet juggernaut refused to comment on the latest deal made by its authorities with the Russian government, it says that it will stay committed to providing accessible online services to users from Russian Federation.
Going by history, Google repeatedly breached Russian laws introduced in 2017. Thus, it was fined for doing so in 2018 and was asked to mend its ways to avoid a complete ban like in China.
In 2018, there were reports that Russia was urging Google to provide a separate search engine to its populace so that the content generated in the region will only be available for access to its own populace.
Nevertheless Google denied offering a separate search engine to Russia in lines with China, but confirmed that it will work in tandem with Roskomnadzor- currently working to block ban websites encouraging Child P$$n, drugs, suicide, circulating hatred, and spreading instability in the country.
According to Moscow Times, Roskomnadzor- a federal executive body responsible for censorship in media and telecommunications of the country, has been transformed into an exclusive mouthpiece of President Vladimir Putin from 2016 and has been strongly favoring state censorship.
Local news resource Vedomosti says that the government of Russia has recently asked Google to comply with its regulatory body; otherwise, the search engine giant services could be banned on a permanent note- like how China imposed a ban on Google and Youtube a few years ago.
“After making a constructive dialogue with our government authorities, Google has decided to stay committed with the data laws formulated by the Putin led government. And so will only give its Russian users access to the content which is appropriate to them”, said Alexander Zharov, the chief of Roskomnadzor.
Roskomnadzor has decided to target Facebook and Twitter after it found that the two social media giants have been repeatedly breaching its laws related to data and online access.
Nu Wexler, a spokesperson from Google confirmed the development and said that a formal statement on this issue will be issued next week.
