The Russian branch of the US web giant Google announced today its intention to declare bankruptcy, assuring however that it will continue to provide its free services in the country: the decision follows the seizure of its bank account by the authorities. Google had been under increasing pressure in Russia for several months and the situation worsened after the invasion of Ukraine.
“Google Russia has issued a notice of its intention to declare bankruptcy,” a spokesperson for the company said. “The seizure of the bank account of Google Russia by the Russian authorities made the operation of our office in Russia unsustainable”, he went on to underline that Google will continue to provide free services in the country such as Search, YouTube, Gmail, Maps, Android and Play. .
In late April, a Russian court fined Google 11 million rubles (about 128,000 euros at the time) for ignoring orders from the state regulator to remove controversial videos posted on YouTube relating to the invasion. The US giant had also blocked the official channel of the lower house of Parliament and blocked the YouTube channels of many pro-Kremlin media. As part of efforts to control the information available nationally, Russian courts had already banned social media such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter as “extremist” organizations.
Source: Ansa
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