Russia tells Google not to advertise 'illegal' events after election protests

[webfact]

Russia tells Google not to advertise 'illegal' events after election protests

 

People attend a rally to demand authorities allow opposition candidates to run in the upcoming local election in Moscow, Russia August 10, 2019. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov

 

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's state communications watchdog has asked Google <GOOGL.O> to stop advertising "illegal mass events" on its YouTube video platform, it said on Sunday.

 

Tens of thousands of Russians staged what observers called the country's biggest political protest for eight years on Saturday, defying a crackdown to demand free elections to Moscow's city legislature. Multiple YouTube channels broadcast the event live.

 

The watchdog, Roscomnadzor, said some entities had been buying advertising tools from YouTube, such as push notifications, in order to spread information about illegal mass protests, including those aimed at disrupting elections.

 

Russia's state communications watchdog, Roscomnadzor, has asked Google to stop advertising "illegal mass events" on its YouTube video platform after tens of thousands staged a large political protest this weekend. Jillian Kitchener reports.

 

It said Russia would consider a failure by Google to respond to the request as "interference in its sovereign affairs" and "hostile influence (over) and obstruction of democratic elections in Russia".

 

If the company does not take measures to prevent events from being promoted on its platforms, Russia reserves the right to respond accordingly, Roscomnadzor said, without giving details.

 

Over the past five years, Russia has introduced tougher laws requiring search engines to delete some search results, messaging services to share encryption keys with security services, and social networks to store Russian users' personal data on servers within the country.

 

A Google spokesperson in Russia declined to comment on Sunday.

 

Moscow has a track record of putting regulatory pressure on Google, one of the main rivals of Russian internet search company Yandex <YNDX.O>.

In late 2018, Russia fined Google 500,000 rubles ($7,663) for failing to comply with a legal requirement to remove certain entries from its search results.

 

Earlier that year, Google removed a YouTube advert by Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny after authorities complained that the videos violated a law prohibiting campaigning ahead of a vote for regional governors.

 

($1 = 65.2455 rubles)

 

(Reporting by Andrey Ostroukh and Nadezhda Tsydenova; Editing by Janet Lawrence and Jan Harvey)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-08-12

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[Baerboxer]

Totalitarian Tsar Vlad.

 

The world seems full of these tyrants who get elected and then frustrate democracy for fear of being unelected.

[DoctorG]

Whilst we rightly condemn the likes of Russia and China for their suppression, we cannot ignore the Western governments who are censoring free speech on the internet.

[usviphotography]

2 hours ago, DoctorG said:

Whilst we rightly condemn the likes of Russia and China for their suppression, we cannot ignore the Western governments who are censoring free speech on the internet.

It is more than that really. Russia, it its long history, has never had such a thing as "free speech" and Russia today is probably freer than it has ever been from a historical standpoint. In the West, on the other hand, free speech is very much a cherished principle and long standing tradition, and unlike Russia, we are becoming less and less free as the years go by. 

[Foexie]

Russia is more and more going back in time.

 

Feels like the Stalin era is comming back.

 

What happens in Russia stays in Russia. If you don't like it and have to much to say about it, we will poisson and/or kill you or we trow you in jail without any reason.

 

Higher rates of radioactivity?! We know nothing and if we know we still dont know.