Russian Court Says Google Disclosed Data On Ukraine Casualties

A Moscow court found Google guilty of disclosing the personal data of Russian servicemen who died in Ukraine fighting, the official TASS news agency reported on Monday, citing court documents.

A video published on YouTube allegedly provided information on the losses in Ukraine of Russian servicemen and disclosed their personal data, the TASS report said.

Russia has issued multiple fines to tech companies since the Ukraine war began in February 2022 over war-related content that it deems illegal.

Regulatory pressure

The country’s internet regulator last November imposed a large symbolic fine on Google — approximately $20 decillion (20 followed by 33 zeros), or more than the world’s GDP — for failing to reinstate several pro-Russian media outlets on YouTube as a Russian court had previously ordered.

In January Google won a UK High Court permanent injunction to prevent the enforcement of the Russian fines.

In the ruling, UK High Court Judge Andrew Henshaw granted Google a permanent anti-enforcement injunction on Russia’s fines, on the grounds that Google and YouTube’s terms and conditions required disputes to be brought to court in England.

Henshaw noted that Google Russia’s liquidator had now estimated the total of some of the fines faced by Google amounted to 20 trillion times the gross domestic product (GDP) of the whole world.

The fine was due to Google’s failure to restore YouTube accounts belonging to 17 Russian TV channels including state-owned RT and Tsargrad, owned by a Russian oligarch.

YouTube terms

In early 2022 YouTube had blocked channels connected to Russian state-backed media outlets RT and Sputnik over its fake propaganda claims, amidst punishing global sanctions against Russia.

Google’s Russian subsidiary was declared bankrupt in October 2023 after more than a year of proceedings, after Russian bailiffs in May 2022 seized 7.7 billion roubles (£70m) from the unit.

The levy was part of a fine calculated on the basis of the company’s annual turnover, the first time such a fine had been levied in Russia.